


Anchorage

by sumcp



Series: Anchorage [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Dealing with guilt in unhealthy ways, Death Threats, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, F/M, Gerard is a bigger bitch, Hale fire, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Scott/Stiles/Reader ultimate brofic, Season One Re-write, Swearing, Teen wolf re-write, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Underage Drinking, kate argent is a bitch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:21:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 126,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23533717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sumcp/pseuds/sumcp
Summary: When you follow your two best friends in the woods at the start of your sophomore year of Highschool, your whole world turns upside down for the second time in your life.
Relationships: Allison Argent/Scott McCall, Derek Hale/Original Female Character(s), Derek Hale/Reader, Kate Argent/Derek Hale, Lydia Martin/Jackson Whittemore, Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Anchorage [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1693582
Comments: 71
Kudos: 205





	1. We Aren’t In Beacon Hills Anymore

**Author's Note:**

> References to statutory, as in view of the law

[ ](https://ibb.co/XyGbJDW)

You’ve heard the term ‘codependent’ in your life more times you’ve probably heard any other word in the english language. That one word, is the only reason why you found yourself dragged out of a perfectly good almost slumber by your best friend in hopes of finding a dead body. 

“Come on Y/N, you and Scott always complain nothing interesting ever happens in this town, try to act a little excited!” Your eyes connected with Scott’s amused ones before turning back to Stiles with a flat look.

“All I’m thinking about is how your dad is gonna ground us for eternity.” You shivered in the back seat of the jeep as you wrapped Scott's jacket around you tighter because of course Roscoe’s heat went out. Again. Scott complained all of five seconds, giving up his jacket since it was heavier and just grabbed one of your hoodies left in Stiles' jeep.

Pink wasn't his color but you didn't dare say anything since you wanted to keep the jacket.

“That’s only if we get caught.” Stiles' smile was too smug as he connected eyes with you through the rearview mirror. 

You kept your glare up but after 15 years together your glares tended to fall a little on the pathetic side with him. You leaned up, propping your head on Scott’s shoulder as he patted it sympathetically. Good ole Scotty, he was always the nice one.

You let out a little huff, turning to look at your best friend as he carefully parked the jeep away from the deputy and sheriff cars a couple hundred yards away. As much as you loved Roscoe, you really should have convinced them to take Sally. Your silver Jetta doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb like the baby blue hunk of metal that every person in Beacon Hills knows.

“Did you even bring flashlight’s? None of us have night vision.” Stiles turned to you with a scandalized look.

“What do you take me for? An amateur?” He grinned, reaching toward the passenger floor board and pulling up a small bag which no doubt had flashlights.

Scott laughed along as Stiles handed him a flashlight, and then held out a tiny one for you. You didn’t reach for it though, opting to stare him down in hopes he would realize what a bad idea this was. After a tense couple minutes, he shook the light in his hand expectantly. 

Honestly, you never really thought your codependency was an issue until this moment.

You and Stiles used to laugh it off when his parents or yours would say you needed space apart, that it wasn’t healthy for two people to rely on the other for so much. Hell, even Scott swears your and Stiles relationship is the weirdest thing he’s ever seen.

You were as close to Stiles and his family as you were with your own. Growing up as next door neighbors since you were two just made it all the more easier. Your dad and Stiles' worked for the sheriff’s department together and they had been best friends since high school.

Then came along Stiles' mom after his dad arrested her at a “peaceful” protest and then your mother got her off on a technicality because they had been best friends since college. It was love at first sight for the both of them. It was such an interesting love story that you and Stiles loved hearing, it was like fate knew exactly what they were doing with the Y/L/N and Stilinski family. 

Stiles was your person. He’d been your person since your two year old self roped his one year old self into playing in your shared backyards and then you never stopped. 

It didn’t stop when you refused to go to School because Stiles wouldn’t be in your grade, and it probably should have occurred to your parents then that your friendship would be weird, but when you’re five everything is adorable and your parents decided to hold you back.

It didn’t stop when you and Stiles walked into pre-k, afraid of leaving your parent’s and meeting new kids, but the moment you saw a little Jackson Whittmore pushing a little Scott McCall because he was breathing funny, you turned to Stiles and simple told him the small tanned boy was going to be theirs and Stiles looked between you and Scott, and just nodded. Then you proceeded to punch Jackson in the face (your dad was so proud) and adopted Scott.

It didn’t stop when Claudia Stilinski got sick, if anything, your codependency got worse. You were at the hospital every day with Stiles until she was gone. March 30th was the saddest day of your life, because you didn’t just lose her, you lost the little piece of your bestfriend that made his eyes light up.

Losing Claudia made you fiercely protective of Stiles. You remembered quite well when his dad started drinking too much, and Stiles began to spend more nights at your house until he eventually packed a bag and spent a whole week in the guest room. That’s when you went over and yelled at the sheriff, all of ten years old, to get his shit together because you wouldn’t let anyone else hurt Stiles.

The sheriff didn’t touch the bottle again and Stiles was living with him again the next week and if a little bit of light came back into Stiles' eyes, well that was just between you and the sheriff. That’s why you found yourself reaching for the flashlight and ignoring the blinding smile you got in return. 

Stiles Stilinski was your best friend and your responsibility, but that didn't mean he wasn't also a giant pain in your ass.

“Come on losers, first one to find the body owes the other lunch for a week.”

You slipped out of the jeep, clicking the flashlight to illuminate preserve, carefully sweeping the light back and forth over the path. You didn’t bother paying attention to Scott and Stiles lacrosse talk behind you, because the sooner you did this, the sooner you were able to go to sleep.

“Just out of curiosity, which half of the body are we looking for?” You froze in your tracks, turning around to glare at Stiles.

“HALF?!” You yelled, causing Stiles to flinch and Scott to wince as the light blinded him.

“Did I forget to mention it was half a dead body? My bad..” You held your gaze with Stiles as he smiled innocently at you, which didn’t work, you knew him too well to know he was anything but innocent.

“And, what if whoever killed the person is still out here?” Scott asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

“Huh, I didn't think about.” Stiles shrugged, punching Scott in the arm lightly as he took off ahead of you. 

Scott shrugged as well and started to climb up the small hill, his breathing becoming wheezy with every step.

“It's comforting to know you've planned this out.” Your voice fell flat as you suppress a shiver, just making it to the top of the hill. You pushed your way in front of Stiles, who slowed down for Scott but when he realized you had gotten too far from his sight he screamed your name.

“Wait, Y/N, come on!” You ignored Stiles on purpose, because you were cold and tired and ready to just go home and maybe giving him the cold shoulder would make him wise up to what a bad idea this was.

“Stiles! Dude Wait--wait on me!” You heard Scott gasp, but all you noticed was leaves crunching and lights coming toward you as you climbed another tiny ridge with Stiles right on your heels.

As soon as you made it to the top of the small ridge, you heard the dogs barking and lights blinding you along with Stiles' very manly scream you were sure woke everything up in the preserve. 

“Hold it right there!” You automatically put your hands up on instinct but inside you were cursing the day you met Stiles Stilinski.

“Hang on, hang on.” You immediately lowered your arms at the longly tired sigh coming from behind the lights in front of you. “These Iittle delinquents belong to me.”

You gave Papa Stilinski your most innocent smile, waving at your pseudo father as Stiles whispered curse words behind you.

“Noah, you’re looking dashing in your uniform. Have you been working out?” You flashed a smile to Deputy Clemens who was hiding his snort of laughter behind a cough, but the stern look from Noah was enough to have the young deputy walk away. 

What a shame, Clemens was quickly became one of your favorites since he started about a month ago, and you were sure you could have gotten away with a warning if it was only him.

“So, do you listen in to all of my phone calls?” Noah asked Stiles, ignoring you in favor of his son. 

“No.”

“Not the boring ones.” You said at the same time which made Stiles laugh and Noah run a hand down his face. You felt minutely bad about it, you hated causing Noah stress.

“Mmmhm. Where's the third musketeer?” Noah turned to you, which okay, not fair. 

“Who, Scott? Scott's at home.” You smiled with all your teeth, trying to play it cool but you always felt terrible lying to him and he knew it.

Damn him. 

“He said he wanted to get a good night's sleep for the first day back at school tomorrow. It's just us. In the woods. AIone.” Noah didn’t look like he believed either of you which was why he started yelling for Scott to come out but he was met with complete silence.

You only had a few seconds of panic to worry about Scott before the sheriff sighed and grabbed Stiles by the ear, expecting you to follow along.

“Well, young man, I'm gonna walk you and Y/L/N back to the Jeep and then you are both grounded for a week.” Stiles let out an outraged cry but you remained quiet, knowing it was no good to argue.

“But what about lacrosse? And Y/N has swim practice.” Noah glanced at you, raising one eyebrow and you smartly kept your mouth shut. 

He let go of Stiles as he led the way out of the preserve and back toward Roscoe, and you felt Stiles nudge your shoulder in solidarity as you both did the walk of shame.

“Fine, but you both come straight home after practices.” You grinned at Stiles behind Noah’s back but it was soon whipped off your face when the man asked you where your Aunt was.

“Um.. New York? Boston? Maybe LA? It’s definitely one of those three.” Your shoulders tensed, but soon a comforting arm was placed around them as the Sheriff let out a quiet grumble. “Actually, she said something about Paris in a text two weeks ago so.. she could be there.” 

The sheriff seemed to stomp a little louder through the preserve with that discovery, and you knew it had nothing to do with you, but it still made your stomach twist and the guilt creep up your throat.

“Alright then, you know the drill.” You were going to object, tell Noah you can stay in your own room but you knew it was no use. He would say the same thing as he had been saying since you were fifteen about not being all alone in your house all the time, it’s not good for you, blah blah blah. 

“Yes, sir.”

It wasn’t like it was a hardship staying with the Stilinski's, they were the only true family you had left, but you hated feeling like a burden to Noah, especially since he wouldn’t let you pay for anything. 

You had way too much money for any 17 year old, ever. Technically, you didn’t have access to it all until you turned 18 but your aunt threw money at you instead of actually being around to take care of you, so you had way more than you knew what to do with.

“Alright you two, go directly home. I’ll have a deputy come by and check that you’re there.” You smiled at Noah as you climbed in the jeep.

“Can it be Clemens?” The sheriff glared back at you and you mimed zipping your lips before shutting the door and waiting for Stiles to climb in. 

“You’re gonna get Clemens in trouble if you keep doing that.” Stiles sighed, starting the jeep and you laughed.

“You’re dad shouldn’t hire ridiculously hot deputies if he didn’t want people ogling them.” You wiggled your eyebrows suggestively at Stiles' snort.

“It doesn’t help that he shamelessly flirts with you every time we go in the station, the last thing dad needs is to arrest one of his deputies for statutory.” You rolled your eyes, crossing your arms across his chest. 

“Please, as if I would be anything but a willing participant, I mean have you seen his hands. They are glorious and everything porn wishes it was.” You sighed mournfully out the window, feeling Stiles eyes on you.

“It doesn’t matter Y/N, you’re not 18 and he’s like 30.” You turned to Stiles with an unimpressed look, both knowing Clemens was only 23. 

“Yeah yeah, I get it. No touchy for another year.” Stiles was still looking at you, trying to see if you were being honest. 

“No touchy, ever.” You punched him lightly, causing him to swerve the jeep. 

“What’s wrong with Clemens?” You waited for Stiles to answer but he seemed focused on the road, which you both knew was bullshit. “Well?”

“Besides the obvious bad touch vibes I get when he looks at you?” You aimed a punch again but he swatted at your leg causing you to yelp. “Also, you have terrible taste in dudes, I mean, you slept with Jackson.” 

The words came out as bitter as they always did as you gave him a long, suffering sigh before rolling your eyes. “Are you ever going to let that go?”

“Nope.” His smug smile was enough to make you want to hit him again. Only harder.

“An orgasm is an orgasm no matter who gives it to you.” It was your turn to smile as Stiles started gagging behind the wheel.

“Oh god, I promise I won’t ever bring it up if you promise to never say orgasm in relation to you ever again.” You laughed till the point of tears before sticking your hand out toward Stiles.

“Deal.”

“Thank god.” He mumbled, swatting your hand away as he pulled into his driveway. 

You hopped out of the jeep feeling very smug as Stiles roll his eyes at your obvious contentment, but you could feel the tension that came up with the topic of Jackson.

You remembered all too well the great fight of Freshmen year causing you and Stiles to go a whole 26 hours without talking to each other. If memory serves correct, Scott even cried because he was so stressed out about you and Stiles not talking. 

Stiles and Jackson hate each other. Hell, you hate Jackson, but the whole thing started with one Lydia Martin, Stiles' one true love and your arch nemesis. To be fair, you didn’t have any feelings about Jackson so if anything, you should be the one mad at Stiles for falling for Lydia, but you weren’t, because bro code and solidarity and what not.

Stiles fell for her as soon as she walked into the third grade classroom as a new student, all shiny and perfect and you thought maybe you might gain a new friend but when she turned Stiles down to play on the playground, calling him weird, and chose Jackson, well, you don’t take to well to Stiles crying.

Which brought forth the biggest fight known to Beacon Hills Elementary School. Again, in all fairness, you shouldn’t have been left unsupervised with glitter and glue. You never claimed to be the reasonable one, that’s Scott. 

Needless to say one particular redhead had to get a haircut and you gained an arch enemy. Stiles still continued to fawn over her, but you knew just how heartless she was and hated her for not seeing how simply amazing Stiles was, which brought on the whole thing about Jackson.

You hated Jackson since Pre-K, and you grew up hating him and when him and Lydia finally got together in 8th grade, you didn’t think there was a better pair suited for each other. Of course that made Stiles sad, so you never told him that, but you were glad they had each other and you hoped Stiles would grow out his love for Lydia. 

Fast forward to Freshmen year, you finally filled out in all the right places and gained a lot of attention, including Jackson’s. Honestly you didn’t mean for it to happen the first time, but you weren’t in a good headspace at the time and anything that made you feel something other than guilt and heartache was good. 

Also, you got the supreme pleasure of knowing what Lydia’s boyfriend did on his own time. As fucked up as that was, it only happened three times, when you both needed some sort of release. Him needing space from Lydia, you needing space from your own thoughts. 

It worked.

“You think Scott’s okay? He hasn’t answered my texts?” Stiles broke you out of your own head and you gave him a tired smile.

“I’m sure he’s fine. He--” You watched as Stiles visibly relaxed, holding up his phone to show a message from Scott. “See told you.” 

You pushed past him and into the Stilinski house and straight up to Stiles' room, proceeding to kick off your shoes and shrug out of your jacket. You didn’t think twice about undoing your jeans and walking over to Stiles’s drawer where he kept his sweats and pulling them on as he came in behind you.

You moved like clockwork, the bedtime routine you and him have perfected over the years and as you put your blue toothbrush next to Stiles’s red one in the holder you turned to see him shrug out of his flannel and then climb in bed with you not far behind. 

You let out a deep breath, snuggling closer to Stiles to stay warm, not even thinking twice about laying your head on his chest and his arm around you.

“You know if Lydia ever notices me and figures out we’re meant to be together, I don’t know how I’m going to explain this to her.” You swatted his stomach lightly, feeling your eyes slowly start to become heavy.

“The same way I’d tell a boyfriend, you’re my person.” You mumbled, feeling his laughter through his chest as he got comfortable. 

You didn’t register what Stiles said after because you drifted off, too tired to even worry about the nightmares that may come, but you knew as long as you had Stiles there everything would be okay.

\------

“Okay, Iets see this thing.” You rolled your eyes as you slammed the door to your Jetta, making your way over to Scott who apparently was attacked in the woods last night.

You blamed Stiles wholeheartedly. 

“Ooh! Yeah.” Scott looked around before lifting his shirt with a grunt and you turned up your nose at the blood soaking through the bandage.

“Whoa!” Stiles said at the same time you pushed his hands away from the wound.

“Are you okay? Why didn’t you call us. You said you were fine!” You glared at Scott who gave you a small smile and assured you it was just a bite, that it was fine and didn’t even need stitches.

You didn’t take it for face value though because Scott and Stiles have both been known to downplay their injuries to you because apparently you were scary protective and they hated worrying you.

Well, too late because you were worried.

“It was too dark to see much, but I'm pretty sure it was a wolf.” You frowned at the boys in front of you as Stiles laughed.

“A wolf bit you?” You asked, jaw hung open as you felt your stomach clench. You should have tried harder to get Stiles to change his mind last night.

“Uh-huh” Scott mumbled, pulling his shirt down and adjusting his backpack and lacrosse stick.

“Nope, not a chance.” Stiles said, patting Scott on the back as he started to walk into School.

“I heard a wolf howling.”

“No, you didn't.” You were fixing to yell at Stiles when Scott did it for you.

“What do you mean, "No, I didn't"? How do you know what I heard?” Stiles just started laughing harder.

“Because California doesn't have wolves, okay? Not for Iike 60 years.” Of course Stiles would know the most random things, like wolf migration.

“Really?” You asked before you thought about it and Stiles leveled you with a ‘yes really’ look.

“There are no wolves in California.” He rolled his eyes and you squeezed Scott’s arm in solidarity. If he heard a wolf, then there was a wolf.

“AII right, well, if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're definitely not gonna believe me about when I tell you I found the body.”

You’re jaw hung open as you let go of Scott’s arm and smacked him. “Are you kidding me? We get busted for being out in the woods and grounded and you find the body?” 

“Yeah well, I'm gonna have nightmares for a month.” Scott shivered, gripping his backpack tighter with a frown.

“I mean, this is seriously gonna be the best thing that's happened to this town since--” You felt your shoulder jar slightly and caught a hint of strawberry blonde hair in your peripheral. “Since the birth of Lydia Martin.” Stiles sighed as the redhead's heels clicked past you all.

“Hey, Lydia--” You winced at Stiles' casual attempt to talk to the girl. “And you Iook Iike you're gonna ignore me…. Again.” 

You put your arm around Stiles, patting his side to help soothe his wounded pride as you made your way up the stairs. You shot Scott a look that made him stop laughing as you reached your locker.

“You're the cause of this, you know.” You smiled at your locker, putting in the combination.

“Uh-huh.” You knew by now not to argue, you knew where this was going. It’s happened every year since third grade.

“You’re the one who glued glitter to her perfect strawberry blonde hair. She hates you, and by association, she hates me. I’ve been scarlet-hated by you.”

“No regrets.” You laughed as Stiles grumbled into his locker, putting all his things away. He tripped slightly on the bag, plowing into the person next to him and you rolled your eyes when you heard his voice.

“Jesus Stilinski, watch where you’re going. You’re such a spaz.” You felt Stiles tense as he righted himself up and you just stepped up beside him and glared at Jackson.

“Watch your mouth Whittemore or I’ll rearrange your face like I did in Pre-K.” You watched Jackson’s eyes slip from Stiles and onto you with a smirk.

“Last time I remember, you liked my mouth.” You bit your lip, trying not to scream to the whole school and just rolled your eyes.

“Go find your girlfriend jackass and leave Stiles alone before I tell her why I liked your mouth so much.” You took great pleasure in watching Jackson’s eyes narrow at the threat before he schooled his features and muttered a whatever under his breath and walked away.

“You don’t have to do that.” Stiles sighed, slamming his locker and then your own before turning back around with a small smile.

“No one messes with you but me.” You stated, turning around to walk to homeroom with Scott, Stiles following behind you both with a frown.

You were barely seated when Mr. Henderson began talking, and it took all you had not to just lay your head down and go back to sleep since you didn’t get much the night before.

“As you all know, there indeed was a body found in the woods Iast night. And I am sure your eager Iittle minds are coming up with various macabre scenarios as to what happened.” Your eyes fell to Stiles who was looking at Scott but he was ignoring you both. “But I am here to tell you that the police have a suspect in custody, which means you can give your undivided attention to the syllabus which is on your desk outlining this semester.”

The glass groaned in collection but you were too busy looking at Stiles to pay attention. He shrugged his shoulders signaling he didn’t know anything more than you did. You frowned down at the syllabus, wondering how you were supposed to pay attention to anything going on in class.

The class was silent for a couple of minutes before the door opened and in walked a gorgeous brunette with curly brown hair and dimples for days.

“Ah, Class, this is our new student, AlIison Argent. Please do your best to make her feel welcome.” Mr. Henderson waved toward the only open seat that just so happened to be in front of Scott.

You watched her rummage through her bag, obviously looking for something and then Scott tapped her on the arm with a pen and held it out for her. You couldn’t help but wonder how he knew she needed one, but one look at Scott let you know that he was totally gone on the new girl.

Great, you just hoped she didn’t turn out to be another Lydia Martin situation because you didn’t think you could bring yourself to mess with her pretty hair.

“Thanks.” She smiled at Scott, and you watched as he melted in his seat. You grinned to yourself before wiggling your eyebrows at Stiles who was silently laughing.

“We'II begin with Kafka's Metamorphosis, on page 133.” This school year was definitely going to be interesting.

After an hour long talk about some dude turning into an insect, the bell finally rang and you made your way toward your locker for the next class. You watched as Lydia swooped in on Allison like a hawk and suppressed a sigh, knowing that Scott had no chance now. 

“Can someone tell me how new girl is here all of five minutes, and she's already hanging out with Lydia's clique?” You asked Stiles, maybe a little bitter because you thought you might actually find a friend who wouldn’t complain about shopping.

“Because she's hot.” You stared at Stiles in shock before turning toward Scott who was too preoccupied staring at Allison with heart eyes to defend you. “Beautiful people herd together.”

“Oh really, and what am I?” You asked, hands on your hip as Stiles sputtered something along the lines of ‘your gorgeous too’ but you were too annoyed to listen.

You weren’t even annoyed with him, just with how Lydia claims every new person (there isn’t a lot but still) and poisons them toward you. You slammed your locker a little harder than necessary, causing Lydia, Jackson, Claire, and Allison too look over at you.

At least she wasn’t glaring like the other three. That was something.

You gave Lydia a sarcastic smile causing Allison to frown between you and her, but you didn’t care. You grabbed Stiles and Scotts arms, hurrying them toward the locker room for gym. Which consisted of everyone watching the Lacrosse team practice.

You dropped the boys off at the locker room and made your way to the field alone until you spotted Danny by the goal getting everything ready.

“Hey handsome.” Danny’s dimples came out full force as he smiled at you, rolling his eyes for good measure.

“Still not into girls, Y/L/N.” You put your hands over your heart, faking hurt as Danny laughed at your antics.

“Can’t blame a girl for trying Mahealani.” You attacked him with a hug, breathing in his Armani cologne you secretly loved.

“It’s okay, our pact still stands. If I ever want to branch out, you’d be the only girl I’d consider.” You barked a laugh, slapping Danny lightly before swishing your hair dramatically.

“Damn right.” You swung your hips as you walked away earning a whistle from one of the other lacrosse players you didn’t remember the name of.

“Knock it off!” You smiled when you heard Stiles' voice grumbling to the cat caller and then threw his things on the bench which you settled beside him and Scott.

“Be careful, Stilinski’s girlfriend will beat you up Kane.” You glared at Jackson, fixing to say something unlady like when Danny smacked him over the head.

That is why you loved Danny.

“Don’t be mad my dicks bigger than yours Jackson.” Eh, you never claimed to be a lady anyway.

Most of the team laughed at Jackson’s man pain on the field. You felt eyes glaring at you and you didn’t have to know who it was.

“Good Luck guys. You got this.” You kissed Scott on the cheek before laying a sloppy wet one on Stiles' causing him to look at you with disgust as he hastily wiped it off.

You jumped up from the bench before Stiles could catch you and made your way to the bleachers where Lydia was still glaring at you and Allison was watching you as if you were the most interesting thing on the planet. 

You sat down just as Coach Finstock blew the whistle to start tryouts and you steadily ignored Lydia’s and Allison’s conversation on the bleachers above you. You watched as Finstock grabbed Scott’s jersey and pushed him toward the goal and you felt you leg starting to bounce in anticipation. 

This wasn’t good.

You loved Scott, but with his asthma he was terrible at sports, and Stiles? Well he was terrible at walking without falling over, but you were anything but unsupportive which is why you encouraged them to keep trying to make first line.

“Wahoo! Go McCall!” You screamed, smiling as he tripped in the goalie net and sent you a small wave. You watched as Danny was up first, and it took all your might not to watch what was about to happen through your fingers.

Coach blew the whistle and you noticed Scott grab his helmet like the sound was unbearable and before he could get himself under control Danny took the shot.

“Who is that?” Allison asked Lydia but you couldn’t tear yourself away from the train-wreck on the field.

“Him? I'm not sure who he is. Why?” You winced as Scott managed to stop the ball. With his face.

“He's in my English class.” Allison sounded thoughtful, not disgusted by the thought of Scott like Lydia did.

“Hey, way to catch with your face, McCall!” You frowned as Jackson’s voice rang out, and you could tell Scott was embarrassed.

“Come on Scott! You got this!” You stood up, trying to be supportive and ignored the huff from behind you.

The next guy was up and you almost tumbled down the small bleachers when Scott actually caught the ball. He looked just as surprised as you did, and threw you a blinding smile as Stiles cheered from the sideline.

You thought it was a trick of the eye until Scott caught the next ball. Then the next. You were screaming jumping up and down and clapping along with some of the other students as he kept catching everything thrown at him.

“He seems Iike he's pretty good.” You smiled smugly as you heard Allison’s voice behind you.

“He is.” You turned toward Lydia who was watching the game with skeptical eyes but Allison was smiling so brightly at Scott but when she caught you looking at her, she looked embarrassed.

“I--um.. Is he your boyfriend?” You almost smiled at how shy she was but you schooled your features to look calm.

“Scotty? No, he’s my best friend… my single best friend.” Her eyes seemed to light up even more and she gave you a blinding smile.

Okay, she was going to have to stop doing that before you became attached.

You turned back just in time to see Jackson was up next and you held your breath, praying he would catch it and when he did you couldn’t stop yourself from going toward the pitch and to Stiles as he jumped up in down in excitement with you.

Scott smiled toward you both before his eyes darted to Allison and you noticed her smiling just as wide as him before showing off and flicking the ball back over his shoulder toward the others. 

You noticed something different in the way he moved, it was more liquid and like he had total control over every muscle in his body. You didn’t have time to ponder it too much because as soon as you turned to ask Stiles how that just happened you had an armful of Scott and his laughter was enough to keep your mind from wandering.

\-----

“It was Iike I had all the time in the world to catch the ball.” You’d been silent since you left School with Stiles and Scott, trying to make sense of what he was saying about Lacrosse tryouts as you wandered through the woods looking for Scott’s lost inhaler. “And that's not the only weird thing. I can hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear. Smell things--”

Your head snapped up at Scott’s rant, “Smell things? Like what?” You narrowed your eyes at him as he took a deep inhale.

“Like Mint Mojito gum in Stiles' pocket.” You raised an eyebrow as Stiles huffed, looking through his pocket like Scott was crazy.

“I don't even have any Mint Mojito…” He stopped talking as his hands reached a piece of discarded gum, and you stared at the piece of spearmint in his hand in awe before turning back to Scott.

“So all this started with the bite?” You asked carefully, trying to piece everything together in your head but all you kept coming up with were Spider-Man theories that you totally blamed Stiles for.

“What if it's Iike an infection, Iike my body's flooding with adrenaline before I go into shock or something?” Scott’s eyes widened in panic and you patted his arm sympathetically but remained silent, not knowing exactly what to say.

“You know what? I actually think I've heard of this. It's a specific kind of infection.” You stopped searching the ground for Scott’s inhaler and looked at Stiles, wondering what the hell he was talking about.

“Are you serious?” As soon as you saw Stiles’s lips twitch you knew whatever he was about to say was going to be bullshit, but Scott the ever loving puppy he was just looked at Stiles with his big brown eyes expecting to hear the answer to all his problem.

“Yeah…” Stiles mused, walking away from Scott but not before sending you a wink which you returned with an eye roll. “Yeah, I think it's called Lycanthropy.”

“What's that? Is that bad?” 

Oh, Scott. You moved one had over your face, cursing yourself for picking these two morons as your friends.

“Oh, yeah, it's the worst.” Stiles was completely serious in tone causing Scott to hang on to his every word. Sometimes it was just too easy. “But only once a month.” 

“Once a month?” You resigned yourself to Stiles' little game because let’s be honest, Scott deserves it at this point.

“Mmm-hmm. I think I heard about this..” You turned around to the boys, matching Stiles serious expression.

“Yep, On the night of the full moon.” Stiles started to grin manically, your eyes catching with his before you both let out blood curtly howls.

Scott realized then that you both were messing with him, which earned you a scowl of the highest proportions but you and Stiles just devolved into a fit of laughter as you hung off each other to keep steady.

“Aw don’t walk away Scotty.” You went to reach for him but he just shrugged away from you.

“Hey, man — Hey, you're the one who heard a wolf howling.” Stiles held his hands up, trying to defend his actions but Scott just glared at you both.

“There could be something seriously wrong with me!” Scott yelled, causing a couple of birds to flee from the tree above you.

“I know! You're a werewolf!” Stiles growled playfully, but you could see Scott was seriously starting to get upset so you slapped Stiles in the stomach hard enough for him to double over with a grunt of pain.

“Okay, obviously we’re kidding.” You gave him a tentative smile but apparently Stiles can’t take a hint.

“But if you see me in shop class trying to melt all the silver I can find, it's 'cause Saturday's a full moon.” You turned to glare at Stiles as Scott turned his back on you both, but all he did was stick his tongue out at you.

You spent the next few minutes in silence, the only sounds coming from the leaves and branches crunching beneath all your feet and the small coo’s from birds.

“I could have sworn this was it. I saw the body, the deer came running and-- I dropped my inhaler.” Scott bent down, moving some brush out of the way and you helped him since Stiles was too busy talking.

“Maybe the killer moved the body.”

“If he did, I hope he Ieft my inhaler. Those things are Iike 80 bucks.” You gave Scott a side look, making a mental note to go to Bert’s pharmacy and pay for him a new one and claim you found one of his lost spares in Stiles' room.

You stopped moving the brush around, dusting off your hands when you felt your neck start to tingle as if someone was watching you but before you could move Stiles' voice squeaked and you had an arm on you pulling you behind him.

“What are you doing here? This is private property.” You felt your spine stiffen at the unfamiliar voice, and when you finally saw who it was your breath caught in your throat.

“Uh, sorry, man, we didn't know.” Stiles said, rubbing his neck like he did when he was nervous.

“Yeah, we were just Iooking for something, but uh..” Your voice came out hesitant as the man's prettiest-green-you’ve-ever-seen-in-your-life eyes trained on you and away from Scott and Stiles for the first time.

You didn’t have a chance to say anything else when the strange-yet-familiar guy reached into his pocket and threw something at Scott before turning around and walking away without another word. You never let your eyes leave his back until he was too far for you to see and you let out a shallow breath.

“AII right, come on, man, I gotta get to work.” Scott mumbled and you looked to his hands which had his lost inhaler in it. 

Huh.

“Dude, that was Derek Hale. You remember, right? He's only Iike a few years older than us.” Stiles was staring at the spot Derek disappeared and you felt your heart sink at the confirmation of who it was.

“Remember what?” Scott asked, turning around to make his way back to the jeep.

“His family… They all burned to death in a fire, Iike, 10 years ago.” You whispered, looking back to the woods, not knowing why you were disappointed when you were met with nothing but trees. “I wonder what he's doing back.”

You sat quietly in the back of the jeep the whole way to drop Scott off to work, it was only until you were in the passenger seat beside Stiles when he started to grill you.

“You’re awfully quiet, what’s going on in that head of yours.” You opened your mouth, but nothing came out. To be honest there was a lot going on.

Scott’s new and unnatural lacrosse abilities and wondering how the hell it happened. Derek Hale showing up in all his bad boy and leather glory in the woods after fleeing town with his big sister Laura, who used to babysit you sometimes over your early Summer years when your mom was working a case with her mother and your dad was too busy at the station.

“Just thinking about the Hale family..” You mumbled, picking at the edge of Stiles' purple flannel you put on before leaving his house this morning.

“Hey.. I know that must bring up some bad memor--”

“I’m fine Stiles.” You took a deep breath and sat up straight, ignoring the eye roll you got from the driver’s seat.

“You know you don’t have to do that with me.” His voice was barely above a whisper and you knew how much it hurt him when you brushed anything to do with your parent’s off. 

“Stiles, it’s fine. Just seeing Derek after all these years brought back memories of Laura babysitting me growing up.” You felt Stiles' hand slip into yours as your phone went off the same time as Stiles, which was never a good sign.

“How much do you want to bet one of your dad’s deputies spotted the jeep near the preserve?” You winced, staring at your phone as if it might bite.

“I don’t like losing money.” A smile broke out on your face, looking at Stiles who was chuckling beside you.

You squeezed his hand, sighing dramatically. “Come on, let’s grab Noah dinner and take it by the station… we will get off without a lecture if we bring him curly fries and something greasy.”

“Good idea.. But we’ll have to bring him a salad tomorrow.” Stiles made a face at you and you just nodded. 

You knew Stiles worried about his dad, truth be told you worried about Noah just as much and if putting up with his grumbling about rabbit food kept him around for another 30 years, well you would do it every day.

You and Stiles jammed out to music before running through the drive-thru getting you, Stiles, and Noah a burger and curly fry each and then headed to the Station. You let Stiles handle the bags, opting to carry the drink tray with ease.

You said good evening to Tara at the desk, her smiling at each of you before waving you back. You walked through the bullpen, heading straight for the sheriff’s office and without knocking you barged in on the tail end of a private phone call.

“Yeah-- Yeah thanks Doc. I’ll come by and get the report in a little while.”

Noah turned around just then, eyes narrowed at you both but you just waved the drink’s as a peace offering. The older man just snorted, rolling his eyes as he disconnected the phone call, waving you both in.

“Do we have to have a conversation about knocking again?” He sighed, plopping down behind his desk with a inquisitive look which caused you to smile sweetly.

“Sorry pops, our hands were full.” Noah took one look at the label on the bag Stiles was holding and you could tell in that moment all was forgiven.

The man just held out his hands expectantly, and when Stiles plopped the burger and curly fries in front of him he looked like a kid on Christmas. You and your best friend shared a tiny smirk but it was short lived.

“Well, a burger and curly fries. You two must think you’re gonna get away with going to the preserve after school instead of going home like I told you to.” You froze with a fry halfway to your mouth before letting out a small laugh.

“Oh, look at that. They forgot to pack napkins.. I’ll just go and get some real quick.” You didn’t wait as Stiles spluttered beside you in mock outrage, ignoring the sheriff’s ‘young lady’ and slipped out of the room with a practiced quickness.

You grabbed the napkins out of the break room, smiling at a couple of deputies you knew since you were a child but before you could go back to the sheriff and Stiles, Deputy Clemens stopped you with a light grab of your arm.

“Hey you, visited any crime scenes lately?” His dimpled smile was blinding and you felt your stomach swoosh at having it directed at you.

Deputy Clemens was the poster child for perfect cheekbones. He was well over 6 foot, and deliciously well put together with big, strong hands that looked more than capable to keep you safe or pinned down, dealers choice really. He had sandy blonde hair and pale blue eyes that lit up whenever he smirked. He was probably one of the hottest guys you had ever laid eyes on until a brief flash of Derek Hale popped in your brain. Although they were completely different. Clemens had Boy Scout, Varsity Quarterback, team captain and prom king written all over his face while Derek screamed bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks with a heart of gold and snarky disposition.

You blinked at that thought, realizing you have spent way too much time on Tumblr and Ao3. Then you realized that Clemens was still waiting for a response with a small smirky grin that had slowly became your favorite.

“Me? I would never do anything like that.” You leaned into his touch automatically, grinning up at him through your lashes. “Deputy.” 

Clemens's eyes darkened, his gaze sweeping over your face and then down toward your modest cleavage. You watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed and you let your eyes linger on his lips for just a little too long thinking about how easy it would be to stand on your tip-toes and see what they felt like.

A throat cleared behind you and Clemens jumped back as if he was electrocuted. You knew exactly who it belonged to and turning toward Stiles with a glare that told him to leave it alone but of course, Stiles never listened to you.

“I was just coming to see what was taking so long so we can eat and go home because we have school tomorrow. High School. Where we both go... because we’re 16.” You looked to the ground, hoping it would swallow you whole out of embarrassment.

“17.” You corrected out of spite but you knew it was a moot point judging by the biggest bitch face Stiles was giving you.

“Stiles.” Clemens gave him a tense smile and you could tell it took all his control not to snap at the younger boy. “I’ll see you around Y/N.” 

The deputy moved around you, careful not to touch you as he gave Stiles an unimpressed look on his way out of the break room.

“Are you kidding me? What was that?!” You hissed, swatting at Stiles angrily.

“What was that?” He mocked, “What was that? He looked like he was fixing to pounce on you!” He growled, grabbing you hand to keep you from hitting him again. “You’re lucky my dad didn’t see that or Clemens would fired.. Hell, he might’ve arrested him!”

“I’m not stupid, Stiles. I know that.. Just drop it!” You pushed past him, jarring his shoulder but Stiles caught your arm.

You locked eyes with him and were surprised to find they were no longer full of anger but the alternative made your stomach twist in knots. 

“You’re better than this.” His amber eyes were filled with concern as his words settled over you. You shrugged out of his hold, taking a deep breath before giving him a small smile. 

“You’re a pain in my ass Stilinski.” His smile was blinding as he threw his arm over your shoulders and pulled you into a half hug.

“Same, Y/L/N, same.” You rolled your eyes, walking back to the Sheriff’s office with Stiles' warm body pressed against you. 

You spent the next hour laughing and joking with him and Noah, trying to push everything that had happened today in the back of your mind, but when you went home and crawled into your own bed in your empty house, you couldn’t help but stare at the ceiling in a faint attempt to sleep.

At around 2 am you finally felt yourself drifting off and when you woke up your stomach felt like lead and you had to blink tears out of your eyes. You moved on autopilot as you got ready for school, ignoring the flashes of icy roads, fire, police sirens, water, green eyes, and howling that bombarded your vision every time you blinked.

\----

You couldn’t shake the eerie feeling of being watched all day. Everywhere you went in the halls, you felt eyes on you and it was slowly driving you insane. You knew your nightmares last night had been worse for ware, but this was getting ridiculous.

You jumped when Stiles popped up beside you at the end of the day and you tried to calm your heart rate down but it was no use, you felt like you just got done running a marathon.

“What’s with you today, you’re acting weird.” You pointedly ignored your best friends stare as you looked down the hallway to see Jackson cornering Scott at his locker, which was right next to yours.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” You growled, ignoring Stiles as you barreled down the hallway. 

“AII right, Iittle man. How 'bout you tell me where you're getting your juice?” Jackson had Scott pinned against the locker and you could barely make out what they were saying.

“What?” Scott was wearing his signature puppy eyes, looking generally confused as you were about to pull Jackson away from him.

“Where are you getting your juice?” You froze, eyes wide at the accusation he was throwing at Scott, because who would really believe the severe asthmatic was on steroids.

“My mom does all the grocery shopping.” You almost tripped over your feet at Scott’s innocent answer, running a hand down your face.

“Now, Iisten, McCall, you're gonna tell me exactly what it is and who you're buying it from, because there's no way in hell you're out there kicking ass on the field Iike that without some sort of chemical boost.” Jackson grabbed Scott’s shirt and that made you react instead of staring at the argument like a moron.

“Let go of him Jackass!” Your attempt to break up the little scuffle drew more attention than you wanted, but it quickly got Jackson to let go of Scott and you took the opportunity to step in front of him. 

“God, you again.. Seriously Y/N? How about you let your boyfriends fight their own battles.” You glared at Jackson, poking him in the chest to get your point across.

“They aren’t my boyfriends you douche canoe, Scott has been working his ass off all Summer to make first line so get off your high horse and come to terms with the fact that you're not the super-star anymore.” Jackson started laughing , eyes full of mirth as he stepped closer to you.

“You and I both know something is wrong with McCall, maybe it’s steroids, maybe it’s-- I don’t know what else it could be but he’s hiding something and I’m gonna find out what it is.” Jackson grabbed your arm, but it was quickly caught by Stiles.

“Don’t touch her.” He had ahold of Jackson’s hand, and you heard the collective gasps from the crowd and if you weren’t 100% sure this was real and not a dream, you thought you heard growling from behind you.

Jackson took one look at Stiles, his hand still holding on to Jackson’s then to Scott before he laughed again, this time much lower and more dangerous. You’re eyes flickered to everyone in the hallway who was watching the exchange with bated breath, waiting for something to happen.

But nothing did.

Jackson ignored Stiles all together, moving his hand out of Stiles' grip with ease and leaned closer to you, causing your breath to catch in your throat as Jackson’s lips ghosted over your ear.

“You know I’m right.” You let out a shaky breath as Jackson turned around and walked away, followed by her royal highness.

Allison was frowning after the pair, before making the decision to come toward you instead of follow them, which was insane in the simple fact that everyone follows Lydia.

“Are you okay?” She asked, concern filling her brown eyes and you just waved her off with a shaky laugh.

“Me? I’m fine. You’re new here but that is pretty much how it always goes between the prom king and queen and their royal subjects.” You gave her a smile but you could tell she was struggling with what to think. 

You watched her look at Scott in concern but he was basically wearing heart eyes so you decided to leave the two love birds to it and grabbed Stiles by the arm and started for the lacrosse field for the actual tryouts.

“What was that? What did he say to you? I swear to god I will eviscerate him if he--”

“Stiles, he said something’s up with Scott and he’s going to figure out what.” You paused by the bleachers, then decided to drag Stiles under them, ignoring a couple of whistles coming from some of the lacrosse players.

“As much as I love you, I’m not really up for a make out session Y/N.” You gave him your most unimpressed look which had him snickering. 

“You should be so lucky.” That caused you both to laugh and you felt for the first time today, a little less on edge.

“Okay if not to get all up on this, why are we here?” You bit your lip, worrying it between your teeth before staring at Stiles.

“What if Jackson’s right.. Or what if..” You knew you were going to sound crazy, but your dreams of deadly howls and bite marks had officially driven you there.

“What if.. What? Scott’s not on steroids Y/N, he refuses to take over three Tylenol at one time there is no way he’d do steroids.” That wasn’t what you were thinking, not by a long shot.

“I know that.” You said, feeling your stomach sinking as you took a deep breathe but before you could tell Stiles what you maybe thought was happening, his phone rang.

“It’s dad.” You nodded, crossing your arms over your chest as Stiles spoke to Noah on the phone. 

You looked around, noticing more lacrosse players have came onto the field judging by how loud it got and the more feet you heard stomping up the bleachers. You turned back to Stiles to catch the tell end of him telling Noah he loved him, and you ignored the pang in your chest from your heart. 

“So… that was my dad..” You noticed Stiles' skin had gone paler than usual and you felt a sense of dread creep up watching your best friend’s eyes go from their usual warmth to panicked. “They got the fiber analysis on the body back from the lab in LA.”

“And?” You prompted, wringing your fingers nervously around each other.

“It was a wolf.” You felt all the air leaving your lungs just as the sound of coaches whistle rang through the field. 

Stiles gave you one last look before running out from the bleachers and you followed a couple steps behind, hearing Stiles yell for Scott to wait up, no doubt telling him what you both just found out.

“Let's go! Gather round! Bring it in, come on! Come on!” You ignored coach Finstock’s yelling as the lacrosse players gathered around, instead you went for your usual spot on the bleachers, one step under Lydia and Allison.

Except this time Allison actually talked to you, which threw you for a loop.

“Hey Y/N.” She gave you a kind smile, and you honestly didn’t know what to say back so, like any normal person, you just stood there mouth open.

“You’re boyfriends aren’t around Y/N, no need to have your mouth open.” You closed your jaw with a snap at Lydia’s snide comment, which surprisingly earned her a tiny glare from Allison.

“You’re right, I usually save that for Jackson.” You froze as soon as the words came out of your mouth, and you heard the echo of ‘ooooo’ coming from everyone around that just heard you tell Lydia her boyfriend cheated on her, with you. 

Shit.

Allison looked nervous but you could tell she was finding this turn of events fascinating as Lydia stood up, coming to stand on the same row as you with her hands on her hips.

“What did you just say?” 

You barely glanced up at her, before turning back toward the pitch. “I think you heard me Martin.”

“Jackson would never cheat on me with you.” Lydia’s words hit you like a ton of bricks, just because she knew Jackson would cheat but how you would be so beneath him. Although, technically you were beneath him, multiple times. 

The ugly pit you try to hide all of your emotions in, that sometimes makes you lash out in the nastiest of ways started to bubble over. You knew you should just laugh it off, but her words stirred something deep within you that as soon as she said them, your mouth started to move before your brain could corral it back in.

“Why don’t we ask Jackson then.. He’s right over there?” Your mother always taught you go big or go home. “Hey Whittemore!”

You stood up, arms crossed over your chest as all the players paused in the huddle they were having. Jackson took off his helmet, eyes darting between you and his girlfriend with clear panic.

“Lydia wants to know which one of us gives better head?” The whole lacrosse pitch went deathly silent, the bleachers too, until Scott took one look at Jackson’s face and proceeded to bust out laughing which caused half of the lacrosse players to join in along with your fellow students.

You gave Jackson a vindicated smile as he started toward the bleachers to console a furious Lydia, but Coach grabbed him by his jersey the same time Lydia shoved you unkindly out of the way and stomped off toward the parking lot with her head held high.

“Oh come on Lydia… I’m sure it’s you.” You called after the redhead, the fleeting feeling of victory starting to form a bitter taste in your mouth. 

You watched as Stiles' face followed Lydia’s red hair until she disappeared, then turned back toward you with his signature look of disappointment that seemed to be aimed at you too much as of late. 

You swallowed deeply as Coach blew the whistle to start the last day of tryouts, ignoring Stiles and his your-better-than-that stares as you sat back down with a thud, trying to block out the whispers around you as best you could.

“Well… that was interesting.” You jumped slightly as Allison scooted down to sit with you, and you let out a breathless laugh.

“You could say that.” You and her watched the pitch in comfortable silence, cheering when Scott made a fantastic play or did something extra incredible.

“So Lydia is throwing a party tomorrow night.” You turned toward Allison with an eyebrow raised in question, but she carried on as if you had been friends forever and this was normal occurrence between you both. “Scott asked me to go.. I said yes.”

You gave her a big smile but you could see how nervous she was telling you all this.

“That’s awesome, Scott’s a great guy.” You refrained from doing a tiny victory dance on behalf of your best friend. Only barely.

“Yeah..” Allison sighed dreamily, before turning to you and grabbing your hand which caused you to freeze. “Look, I know you said there’s nothing going on there.. But Lydia said.. Well she said some not nice things about you, Scott, and the other guy Stewart--”

“Stiles.” You corrected.

“Right-- Sorry.. I just. I like Lydia, I do.. But you’re nothing like she makes you out to be so I don’t know what to believe.. And I think we could be friends so if you and Scott have something going on, I don’t want to get inb--”

“Woah woah, slow down dimples.” You gave her hand a pat, trying to get her to relax before flashing her an honest smile. “Scott and Stiles are my best friends, nothing more. Seriously there is absolutely nothing going on between us.”

“Oh.. okay.” You both stared at each other for a long minute before you busted out laughing, knocking Allison’s shoulder lightly. 

“You and Stiles should come. To the party I mean.” That caused you to laugh even harder, before shaking your head.

“I doubt I’d be welcome in the Martin Mansion after what just happened.” You sighed, running a hand through your hair.

“I think Lydia will be too wrapped up in making Jackson grovel for her to notice. Come on, it'll be fun, and I really could use a friendly buffer between me and Scott.. He just-- He makes me so nervous.” She flashed you a puppy dog pout that was damn near Scott’s level of evil, and you knew then that they were just perfect for each other. 

“I’ll think about it if you stop looking at me like that. Seriously, it’s unfair.” You made an exasperated sigh, slumping your shoulders to look put out but deep down, you couldn’t help but be hopeful that you might just have made a new friend.

\----

When you got home, you were more than happy that it was finally the weekend and that your first week of Sophomore year was officially in the record books. You spent most of the evening ignoring Stiles' texts, knowing he was wanting to read you the riot act. 

He eventually got the hint that you wanted to be left alone judging by the bitter ‘Fine, but don’t think you’ll get away from taking to me tomorrow’ text at around midnight which you answered by plugging your phone up and drifting off in what you hoped would be a peaceful nights sleep.

Naturally, that wasn’t the case.

You awoke with a scream on your tongue and your name being shouted from the next door window. You crawled out of bed, your back wet with sweat which was disgusting in its own right. 

“What?” You yelled, throwing open your window to see Stiles half leaning out his own and for a split second you were afraid he might just topple out from being startled.

“About time you woke your lazy ass up.” You tried to glare at him but it went unnoticed. “You have to come here and see this. I swear. I don’t-- omg, I might be going crazy and--”

“Stiles.. Slow down, what is it?” You were starting to worry, the way his eyes were darting to you and then to the tree line that connected both your backyards before he ran a hand down his face.

“Just.. come here.” He immediately slammed the window and you saw him lock it and draw the shades, which was definitely weird. You took a deep breath, your heart still hammering in your chest as the nightmares came back to haunt you.

You quickly removed your sweat soaked clothes, throwing them into the hamper before dragging on a pair of shorts and a shirt you were sure belonged to Stiles. You grabbed two bananas from the breakfast bar before opening the door and walking over to Stiles'.

With every step you tried to calm down, trying to tell your brain to get it the fuck together. You were fixing to knock on Stiles' door because you learned the hard way that you ALWAYS knock on the door before you enter a teenage boys room, but you didn’t get to put your knuckles on wood before it was swung open in a hurry and Stiles was grabbing you and pulling you in and onto the bed.

“You gotta see this.” You didn’t get a chance to say anything seeing as Stiles was shoving paper after paper into your hands, forcing you to put down the bananas. “I've been up all night reading. Websites, books...AII this information.”

“How much Adderall have you had today?” You asked, concern growing as you watched Stiles fidget with his desk chair and pick up more papers. 

“A Iot. Doesn't matter. Okay, just Iisten.” 

And you did.

You listened for what seemed like forever about Stiles believing Scott was a real, live, werewolf. You couldn’t move, frozen as flashes of your dreams of wolves and dead bodies in preserve came crashing over you. 

You knew it sounded crazy, even Stiles thought he sounded crazy, but he just kept wondering about the bite Scott received and how he doesn’t need an inhaler anymore and how he could smell things and do things he shouldn’t be physically able to do.

“Okay.” You said after a long moment of Stiles' abnormal silence and he just locked eyes on you, looking at you as if you were the crazy one here.

Hell, you might be.

“Okay? As in.. Okay? You’re not gonna talk me down, call me insane, call my dad to bring me to a looney bin--”

“I would never do that.” You glared at him, causing him to shut up for once. “I don’t.. It makes sense, and that in of itself is crazy.. So let’s just go with it okay. Like a scientific theory.. Scott is a werewolf, now we have to test that theory.” 

“This is insane… are we seriously considering this?” Stiles asked, eyes searching yours for something to reel him back into the land of normal, but you couldn’t think of one other thing it could be, so it looked like you were jumping in right behind him.

“Yes.” 

That was all the confirmation Stiles needed, and you watched him let out a shaky breath and some of the tension in his shoulders as he picked up his phone and dialed Scott. You were glad he seemed calm, because you were definitely not.

You spent the time waiting for Scott to show up, talking theory and what to say to him, and you were starting to think this looked more like an intervention.

“What is the big emergency, is this about the body? Did they find out who did it?” Scott asked barging into the room and plopping on the bed beside you after depositing his bag on the floor.

“No, they're still questioning people, even Derek Hale.” Stiles answered without looking at him, to engrossed in his laptop.

“Really? Derek wouldn’t kill anyone.” You scoffed, crossing your arms over your chest as Stiles spun around one eyebrow raised in question. “What? The guy lost his whole family.. He wouldn’t just come back to Beacon Hills to murder someone.” You mumbled, suddenly unsure why you were even defending him.

“Oh, that’s the guy in the woods that we saw the other day.” Scott just nodded along like a puppy, before sniffing you indirectly. 

“Dude, personal space much.” You huffed, pushing Scott away as he just gave you a tiny frown and mumbled an apology. 

“Okay, so we’re just gonna jump right into this. I know this sounds crazy okay? Believe me.. We-- we know. But do you remember the joke from the other day? Not a joke anymore.” Stiles waited for Scott to catch on but he just kept looking between you both.

“The wolf? The bite in the woods?” You prompted, trying to jog his memory before Stiles started rambling again.

“I started doing all this reading. Do you even know why a wolf howls?”

“Should I? .. How much Adderall did you let him take?” Scott turned to you, usually the voice of some kind of reason in your little group, but you just shook your head.

Stiles grabbed ahold of Scott’s arm, trying to get his attention back on track. “That’s not the point Scott, It's a signal, okay? When a wolf's alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack.” 

Scott still looked like he had no idea what either of you were talking about.

“So if you heard a wolf howling, that means others could have been nearby.” You tried again, gesturing wildly with your hands.

“Maybe even a whole pack of 'em.” Stiles said suddenly, his brows furrowing in concern. You and him locked eyes for a brief moment.

“A whole pack of wolves?” Scott asked.

“No...werewolves.” You watched Scott scoff and pick up his back pack from the floor.

“Are you guys seriously wasting my time with this? You know I'm picking up AIIison for our date tonight and I have to go home and get ready.” He started to walk out of the room, but Stiles stopped him.

“We saw you on the field yesterday, Scott.” Stiles let go of Scott since he stopped trying to make a break for it but he continued to talk. “Okay, what you did wasn't just amazing, all right? It was impossible.”

“Yeah, so I made a good shot.” Scott bit back, sounding like a petulant child and you knew how this was going to end. 

Scott McCall may be a cinnamon roll/adorable puppy but he was headstrong and defiant, he could match Stiles' stubbornness--which is pretty damn impressive-- blow for blow and you knew if you didn’t step in this could be ugly. 

“No, you made an incredible shot, I mean, the way you moved, your speed, your reflexes.  
Scotty… People can't just suddenly do that overnight.” You moved toward Scott, grabbing his arm lightly which caused him to turn his hard stare on you. “And there's the vision and the senses, and don't even think I didn’t notice you don't need your inhaler anymore.” 

“Okay! Well-- ugh. I can't think about this now. We'II talk tomorrow.” He shook his head, prying your arm off his and you felt a sharp pain from your wrist when he did.

“Tomorrow? What? No! The full moon's tonight. Don't you get it?” Stiles grabbed for Scott again, trying to make him believe you both but he just shook out of the grip and started yelling.

“What are you guys trying to do? I just made first Iine. I got a date with a girl who I can't believe wants to go out with me, and everything in my Iife is somehow perfect. Why are you guys trying to ruin it?!”

“We’re trying to help.” You whispered, inspecting your hand and the trickle of blood that was running along your wrist.

“You're cursed, Scott. It's not just the moon will cause you to physically change. It also just so happens to be when your bloodlust will be at its peak.” Stiles tried one more time, but you knew it was no use. 

Scott didn’t believe either of you.

“Bloodlust?” Scott scoffed, which Stiles ignored and turned toward his table.

“Yeah, your urge to kill--”

“I'm already starting to feel an urge to kill, Stiles.” Scott’s voice came out low and gravely, the opposite of his usual tender tone and you told Stiles to stop.

“No, he’s gotta hear this. The change can be caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse. AII right? I haven't seen anyone raise your pulse Iike AIIison does. You gotta cancel this date.” Scott let out another laugh but this time it was anything but funny.

You pulled out your phone, “Look I’m gonna call her, I’ll explain you aren’t feeling good and I’ll--” 

“What are you doing?” You felt Scott’s hand suddenly tighten on your hurt wrist, causing you to whimper as Stiles shouted for him to let go.

“I'm canceling the date.” You said, ignoring the throbbing as Stiles tried to get Scott to let go of you and your phone.

“No, give it to me!” He growled, which caused you to drop your phone in surprise but you didn’t have a chance to do anything when all of a sudden Scott had Stiles, who grabbed your phone from the floor, up against the wall with one hand and one hand gripping his chair to ground him.

“Scott let him go, now!” You grabbed for Scott’s shoulder, pulling him back which he shocking came with as he started breathing heavy. 

Scott took a couple steps back, looking between you and Stiles before mumbling an apology and high tailing it out of the room. You and Stiles remained silent, the air full of adrenaline before you sighed and walked back to the bed and plopped down.

“Well, that went well.” You could hear the sarcasm dripping off every word as Stiles came toward you. “Hey, let me see your wrist.”

You begrudgingly held it out to him as he inspected the small prick marks which stopped bleeding. It looked way worse than it was.

“I’m fine, when he was holding it the blood smeared. It’s just sore.” You gave him a tiny shrug, pulling your wrist back before sitting up and facing Stiles. “What are we going to do? Scott could seriously hurt someone tonight..”

“Yeah I know.” You followed Stiles' line of sight to his computer chair, where the fabric had been ripped open by three very sharp claws.

Shit.

\----

“Okay, someone bit Scott. But who?” 

You and Stiles had been at this for hours, going round and round with different theories as to why he was turned, who turned him, and what did they want. You both decided to not go to the party since it would probably make Scott more upset if he saw you both there, so instead you and him have been playing detective.

“What about Hale?” You shot Stiles a dark look but he seemed utterly unfazed by it. You missed the good old days where you scared him just a little bit.

“Why do you keep bringing him up?”

“Because he’s new to town, we saw him out in the woods right after, and he survived the fire--”

“Along with Laura because they were both out Stiles, I know you read the police report because I read it with you… And he still owns most of the land in the preserve so he has a right to be there.” You looked over to Stiles as he officially pinned the initials DH onto his board along with other things about wolves before tying a yellow string connecting them.

It was something he picked up from Noah, Stiles calls it his murder board. You usually help him when some case of the sheriff’s comes up and he can get the file--not by breaking the law, of course-- and then come up with theories. It’s like a giant game of clue, which you and Stiles dominate at.

“So he’s a suspect now?” You rolled your eyes, grabbing the rubber ball off Stiles' bed before throwing it up in the air and catching it. 

“Yellow means I don’t know.. To be determined.. Yada yada.” He waved a dismissive arm at you, earning a ball to the back of the head. 

You let out laugh at Stiles' flailing but before he could throw the ball back at you, his phone went off. 

“It’s Scott..” Stiles picked up the phone, eyes wide as he was reading over the text and then shoved his phone in his back pocket. “Come on, get up we gotta go.” 

You didn’t argue, instead hurrying to get up and pull your tennis shoes on before running after Stiles and climbing into the jeep.

“How bad do you think this is going to be?” You asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

“Depends, are we talking going to find Allison’s body covered in blood bad… or Scott eating us because he’s a freaking werewolf.” Your stomach sank even further as you brought your hand to run it through your hair.

“Both of those sound pretty bad, Stiles.” You grumbled, sitting up a little straighter as you pulled into the McCall driveway.

“Yeah.. they do.” Stiles didn’t waste any time and neither did you as you rushed into the house and up the stairs toward Scott’s door but when you got there it was locked.

“Scott, it's us.” Stiles yelled, knocking on the door but there was no answer.

“Come on, let us in, Scott. We can help.” You hit the door a little harder than probably necessary, you blamed the nerves.

“No! Listen, you gotta find AIIison.” You froze with your hands on the door, preparing to knock again.

“Scott what’s going on? I’m sure she's fine, all right? Just let us in.” You pulled out your phone, texting Danny knowing he would be at the party.

“No, I think I know who it is. The one who bit me.” It was silent for a couple of minutes, before your phone finally beeped signaling an incoming text.

“Who Scott?”

“It's Derek. Derek Hale is the werewolf. He's the one that bit me. He's the one that killed the girl in the woods.” You suddenly felt weightless as you stared at Danny’s text.

“Scott, I think Derek's the one who drove AIIison home from the party.” You heard a loud growl and then crashing. You gestured for Stiles to break the door down which he did by jarring it open with his shoulder.

When you both looked around the room, the only sign Scott was in the room was the open window. You grabbed Stiles arm when a loud howl echoed from outside and you made it to the window just in time to see Scott’s from running into the woods that connected to the preserve.

“Scott!” You called, but it was no use. You slammed your hand down on the window pain, cursing under your breath before turning to Stiles.

“You need to go to Allison’s make sure she made it home in one piece, I’m going after Scott.” You started toward the door but Stiles grabbed you and pulled you back.

“Like hell you are, Y/N he is moon drunk and dangerous he could hurt you and there’s no telling if there are any more wolves out in the woods.” You glared at Stiles as you pulled your arm out of his grip.

“Stiles, I am ten times faster than you and know the preserve like the back of my hand. I’m the only one of us that’s going to find Scott, and you know it.” Stiles was still glaring at you, but you could see the conflict in his eyes.

“And if you run into Derek? Or-- or another werewolf?” You leaned forward, placing a quick kiss to his cheek.

“Find Allison. I got Scott.” He didn’t make a move to keep you from going, which you knew killed him but he also knew you were right. 

You weren’t the state champ in cross country for nothing.

You bolted out the door in record time and through the woods, it was getting darker by the second but you were glad you weren’t wearing jeans so you could easily jump over any logs that may have been in your way. 

The moon was shining full and bright over the woods, the only source of light for you but it was just enough to keep you from sprawling on your ass from tripping over something. You felt the familiar burn in your chest as you pushed faster, trying to listen to your surroundings. 

“Scott!” You called, lower than you usually would because Stiles was right, there could be other werewolves.

You came to a stop after a good 3 miles into the preserve, knowing you were close to your running trail made it a little easier to breathe without panic. You listened intently, trying to focus and that’s when you heard it. A loud growl about a mile ahead of you.

You ignored the ache in your calves, pushing yourself to go farther but something off to the side caught your attention.

Flashlights. And voices. 

You stopped running, instead opting to creep toward where the light was coming from which was about a hundred yards away from where you heard the growls coming from, and when you got closer you heard their voices.

“Where did they go? Do you think we nicked the beta?” You started walking even slower as the other person spoke up.

“I could have sworn the arrow got him right here.” You were close enough now to see it was three men, with three very distinct weapons. 

The older man, probably the leader was carrying a heavy duty crossbow and the other two were carrying some serious firepower, way more than they needed to hunt deer.

The thought stuck you like a bolt of lightning, the mans words coming back to you. Beta. That’s what a wolf is called, and technically there are no wolves in California, only werewolves.

“Fuck.” You whispered, knowing full and well what these men were. You weighed your options in your head, all the scenarios you came up with either got you shot, kidnapped, or worse.

Before you could make your move there was another set of growls coming from the direction you were heading toward before you changed course, and judging by the three men, they heard it to. 

You couldn’t let these guys find Scott, you couldn’t.

“Hey what the hell do you three think you’re doing.” You came out of the shadows, phone clenched in your hand as all three weapons trained on you. 

“I think we could ask you the same thing..” The older man spoke up, lowering his weapon slightly which caused you to smirk.

“I’m not the one breaking the law. Penal code 3-1-2 of California state law, no unauthorized hunting on protected property.” You crossed your arms over your chest, hoping the men don’t see you your hands shaking.

“I’m impressed.” The older man said, raising his hands in defeat before lowering his weapon. “But I’m just wondering why a girl like you is all alone, in the woods, on a full moon.” 

You could tell he was sizing you, seeing what you knew but you just gave him a dazzling smile.

“I’m not afraid of anything out here, but judging by the size of your weapons.. You sure are.” The smile quickly fell off the mans face, and your spine stiffened as the other two men steadied their aim.

“Trust me, we’re not afraid either.” You and the older man were stuck in a stare down the wild-wild-west would be proud of, but before you could say anything back you heard a twig break somewhere to your right and all three men and their weapons aimed that way.

You had to do something quickly, and the only thing you could think of was going to get you grounded for another week.

“I suggest you leave, go home and forget all about your hunting endeavors for the night boys.” You said, dialing the sheriff’s station.

“And why is that? As far as I can tell, you’re human. Which means we don’t have any business with blood traitors like you.” The younger guy spat out, and you just smiled and put your phone on speaker as you sized him up. He was a little older than the other guy, maybe late twenties early thirties and built like a tree.

“Beacon Hills Sheriff’s department, Tara speaking.” The men froze, eyes wide as you just smiled.

“Omg Tara.. It’s Y/N! I--I need to speak to Noah it’s an emergency-- I think I’m being followed.. I went into the woods for a run and and-- three men with weapons were out here hunting and they--they--”

“Y/N, hold on okay hold on.” The men watched with wide eyes as you put on show in front of them and Tara yelled for the sheriff you were in trouble. 

“Y/N? Y/N are you there? What’s happening?” The leader took one step toward you, but you just wagged your finger at him.

“Noah oh my god, I’m so sorry! I’m-- I’m scared. These men they saw me and they started chasing me.. Oh my god I’m hiding now but-- but what if they find me?!” The older man’s jaw clenched, so did the other two but they knew you had them pinned.

“Okay kiddo.. Breathe okay. I have a car on the way where are you?” 

“I-- I’m on my regular trail now, I circled back trying to lead them away.”

“Okay, that’s good. I know where that is, did you get a good look at them? Anything?” And for your big finale.

“There was a guy, the leader.. He was about..” You studied the older man as he glared but you didn’t mind. “5’11, salt and pepper hair and a beard. Then there was a big dude maybe thirty." The tree looked outraged by that. "And dark brown hair and he has a tattoo of some kind of spade on his right forearm.”

The tree started toward you in fury but he was held back by the leader, and the third guy, well he looked to be close to your age maybe a few years older and he was watching with a look you could only describe as impressed. 

“The third guy is young, maybe 18-20, with light hair.. Oh god. I think they found me! Noah please hurry!” You hung up the phone, losing the panic in your voice as you smirked at the hunters.

“You fucking bitch.” The tattooed guy struggled in the older guys arms, but a simple stop was all that was needed before he backed off.

“You have about 10 minutes to disappear or you can wait and meet the deputies.. Even think about hurting me, and I promise you, the Sheriff will make it seem like a missing person’s case and you’re bodies won’t be found. He’s kind of protective over his god daughter.” The older man just stood there, staring at you as if you were the most interesting thing in the world.

“Let’s go boys.” He remained standing there as the other two grumbled and turned to leave, and you made a shooing gesture which caused the man to smirk.

“I have a feeling we’ll be seeing each other again Y/N.” The man smiled before turning around after his men.

“Can’t wait!” You called out, taking a deep breath and letting it go. You felt the shaking start, but before you could get yourself under control a hand grabbed you and shoved you into a tree.

“What the hell were you thinking! They could have killed you!” You were suddenly met with illuminating icy-blue eyes and a very angry Derek Hale. 

“Let her go, Derek! She just saved our lives!” You sighed, shoving Derek off and ran to Scott.

You threw your arms around him and breathed in his aftershave. You could feel your heart hammering in your chest from the confrontation with the hunters and then being met with actual proof that werewolves are real.

“Thank god you’re okay.” You said, before pulling back and smacking him on the arm. “Don’t you ever do that again! We were worried about you.” 

You didn’t get a chance to hit him again when Derek caught your wrist and spun you toward him, his eyes turning back to the prettiest blue you’ve ever seen. You felt your heart stumble a beat, which caused him to frown. 

He let you go, but remained close as he ran a hand down his face and you watched his eyes de-glow back to their normal gorgeous green. You didn’t miss how Scott was angling himself toward you as if Derek was fixing to attack.

“Scott knock it off, Derek isn’t going to hurt me.” Derek raised a very impressive eyebrow at you which you glared at.

“Really now? What makes you so sure I won’t?” Scott growled low in his throat causing Derek to retaliate.

Boys.

“Enough, both of you. I just saved your asses from werewolf hunters the least you could do is not rip each others throats out in my presence.” Scott stopped immediately, and surprisingly so did Derek. ”Who were they?” You asked, eyes on Derek as he scoffed.

“Hunters.” You rolled your eyes at the guy. “The kind that have been hunting us for centuries.”

“Us? You mean you! You did this to me!” Scott yelled, causing you to jump and you frowned between the boys.

“Is it really so bad, Scott? That you can see better, hear more clearly, move faster than any human could ever hope? You've been given something that most people would kill for. The bite is a gift.” You watched Derek carefully, noticing how he didn’t deny or confirm he actually did bite Scott.

“I don't want it.” Scott whispered, and you just grabbed his hand and squeezed.

“You will. And you're gonna need me if you want to Iearn how to control it. So you and me, Scott, we're brothers now.” Derek didn’t bother to say anything else and you just glared at his back.

“Hey! Don’t just walk away like I didn’t save your ass too.” You froze as Derek stopped, and turned around to march to you.

“Do you want a thank you? A cookie?” You let go of Scott, coming to stand head to head with Derek even though your were a good five inches shorter than him and poked him in the chest.

You never really had any self preservation instincts anyway.

“What I want, is answers. Like who bit Scott and how did those three morons know there were werewolves in the woods tonight?” Derek didn’t answer though, instead he just stared at you, trying to figure you out.

“What do you mean, who bit me? He did!” Scott growled, but you just shook your head. 

“No he didn’t.” You raised an eyebrow at Derek, but he just remained silent.

The tension in the air was enough for you to choke on, between Scott and Derek’s anger you were surprised they haven’t ripped into each other yet. You watched with bated breath but after a minute Derek tilted his head and then let out a sigh.

“The deputies are here. You should go and greet them.” You looked to Scott and then back to Derek who just sighed like he was giving up and then walked away.

You turned toward Scott, asking him if he had his phone. “Text Stiles, tell him everything and have him come pick you up. I have to deal with Noah.” 

Scott gave you a nod then walked off in the opposite direction. You quickly made your way over to your familiar path, right next to a giant rock that looked like a butt when you heard the first call of your name.

You took a deep breath, and noticed your hands were still shaking. At least you weren’t going to have to act much. You ran over to the first deputy you saw, which happened to be Tara and dove into her arms.

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have been out this late but-- but--” She wrapped you in her arms, petting your hair and telling you it was okay over and over again before calling in and telling dispatch that she found you. 

The feeling of Deja Vu hit you like a truck going full speed, this moment bringing you right back to when you were 15 and sobbing into Noah’s neck as he told you there had been an accident. You jerked out of Tara’s grip, your breathing coming in short gasps as she tried to calm you down but nothing seemed to work.

You didn’t know how long you sat there, struggling to breath but before you knew it an oxygen mask had been put on you, forcing you to take a deep breathe. You watched with achingly dry eyes as Noah held the oxygen mask over your mouth, and when you tried to move it he just held on tighter.

You spent the next couple of minutes deep breathing, trying to slow your heart rate back to normal when you heard Stiles' voice call out to you and you saw Stiles and Scott running toward you. You finally shrugged off Noah, grabbing Stiles and pulling him toward you, holding on for dear life.

You didn’t say anything, but you never had to with Stiles. 

“Take her home. We’re going to search the woods for those men. She can give a description to the sketch artist tomorrow.” Stiles hugged you tighter, whispering in your ear to just hang in there, and before you know it you were being herded into the passenger seat of the jeep.

The ride was silent for a couple of minutes, you could tell Stiles was biting his lip raw, wanting nothing more than to rip into you for being reckless, but he didn’t, which you were eternally grateful for. 

It had been 2 years since your last panic attack, and you can honestly say you forgot how shitty they made you feel after. You didn’t have any fight left and the two boys could sense it.

“You know what actually worries me the most?” Scott learned up between the console, trying to fill the void.

“If you say AIIison, I'm gonna punch you in the head.” You felt your lips twitch slightly at Stiles.

“She probably hates me now..” Scott sounded like a kicked puppy which broke you out of your haze.

“I doubt that.” You whispered, trying to sound encouraging but it fell flat. “But you might want to come up with a pretty amazing apology.”

“Or, you know, you could just tell her the truth and revel in the awesomeness of the fact that you're a frickin' werewolf.” You and Scott turned to give Stiles the stink eye, at least he looked a tiny bit ashamed. “Okay, bad idea.” He mumbled, focusing on the road ahead of him.

“We'll get through this.” You said, sitting up a little straighter, trying to gather yourself up and lock away all those memories from three years ago to focus on the present.

“Come on, if we have to.. We’ll chain you up on full moons and feed you Iive mice. I had a boa once. I could do it.” You snorted at that, knowing full well Stiles was lying.

“Stiles you had Draco for like 3 weeks, and I had to feed him because you couldn’t stomach it.” Stiles gave you a tiny glare but didn’t contradict you.

“Fine, then you can feed Scott the mice. The statement still stands.” You caught Scott’s eyes in the rear view mirror, giving him a small smile which he barely returned.

“So.. what do we do now?” Scott asked, but you couldn’t bring yourself to answer and neither could Stiles.

“Humans, werewolves, and hunters… oh my.” You mumbled, pulling your hoodie tighter across your body as if it could protect you from all your thoughts.

You all fell into an uncomfortable silence, but this time no one broke it up and you spent the rest of the way to Scott’s house with a sinking feeling that this was just the beginning and wondering how you all were supposed to keep going on like your world’s didn’t just get turned upside down.


	2. Help Wanted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott tries to balance his personal life and his new found werewolf side as Y/N and Stiles try their best to help. Helping however, includes Y/N going behind Scott and Stiles’s back and talking to Derek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mention of Hale fire, character death, and mild threats

“Did you apologize to Allison?” You asked Scott Monday morning, causing him to jump slightly. You frowned at the reaction, knowing something was wrong but Stiles just shrugged like he had no idea either.

“Yeah.” Scott’s sigh was pitiful and all you wanted to do was wrap him and a blanket and force feed him chocolate till he felt better.

“So is she giving you a second chance or..” Stiles trailed off, trying to decipher what exactly was making him so upset.

“Yeah.” You squeezed his arm, a big smile forming on your face but it stopped when you realized Scott wasn’t smiling at all.

“AII right, so everything's good--” 

“No.” Scott cut Stiles off, causing both of you to stare at him until he gave you more to go on, but instead he just sent longing looks across the hall to Allison.

“No?” You finally broke Scott’s trance by waving a hand in front of his face and he turned to you with heartbroken eyes.

“Remember the hunters? Her dad is one of them.” You’re mouth hung open in shock as Stiles started rapid firing questions.

“Her dad?”

“Shot me.”

“AIIison's father?”

“With a crossbow.”

“AIIison's father-- “

“Yes, her father! Oh, my God.” Scott slammed his head into the locker rather roughly, finally bringing you back from your land of worries.

“Scott, come on, snap out of it. You okay?” He just shook his head no, causing you to grab his arm and lay your head on his shoulder, trying to comfort him in some way. 

Scott’s always been very tactile, so has Stiles, so it was no surprise when Scott just turned and pulled you into a bone crushing hug. What was a surprise, was when Scott buried his nose into the crook of your neck and inhaled deeply before pulling back and frowning at you.

“What? Do I stink or something?” You still sniffed your black rolling stones t-shirt, knowing it was clean.

“No, you just.. You smell like Stiles. A lot.” Scott turned toward your bestfriend and sniffed him causing Stiles to swat at the werewolf. “You both smell like each other. Like it’s almost hard to tell who is who if I had my eyes closed.” 

“Okay, now that we’re done with the disturbing sniffing.. He didn't recognize you, right? Allison’s dad?” Stiles was narrowing his eyes at Allison as Scott said it was too dark to tell. 

You knew which one Allison’s dad was without having to ask for a description. The other two were too young to have a teenage daughter, so it left the leader of the hunting trio who most definitely saw you.

“Do you think she knows about him?” You asked, feeling your heart rate increase. Of course you find someone who could be a potential friend and they turn out to be psychotic hunter.

“I don't know.” Scott sighed again just as the bell rang for homeroom and you had to drag Scott down the hall and away from Allison. 

And that was how you spent your Monday, shuffling Scott around to avoid Allison and you were pretty sure she caught on by the confused glances she was sending you both. You tried to fake a smile, act normal, but all you kept thinking about was those hunters and the guns they trained on you.

“What if she does know?” Scott asked for the hundredth time today as you and Stiles were walking with him to lacrosse practice after School. 

You’re stomach had been in knots since this morning, and by third period you knew it was useless to try and act okay. Scott kept sniffing you and then sending you worried glances before shifting back to Allison with his kicked puppy eyes, and Stiles has tried to console both of you and act positive.

“Look, just focus on Iacrosse, okay? Here, take this.” Stiles shoved Scott’s Crosse at him and ushered him onto the field and away from your worrying. 

“Let's go! One-on-ones from up top. Jackson, take a Iong stick, today.” Finstock blew the whistle to signal the start of practice and you just turned around toward the bleachers for your regular seat but when you saw Lydia you froze.

You had been worried about Scott all day you totally forgot about what happened last Friday. Although Lydia wasn’t looking at you at all, which was grounds for suspicion because she was always at least glaring or making bitchy remarks.

You walked to the bleachers slowly, trying to avoid eye contact with Allison like you had been all day but it seemed you were cornered. You could take a different seat, but then everyone would think you were scared of Lydia, which wasn’t the case in the slightest, so you put on your big girl panties and sat in your usual spot.

Lydia didn’t even acknowledge your presence so the eyes that were staring you down had to belong to Allison. You watched the pitch in silence, breathe held for the inevitable and after a few minutes, Allison finally made her move to sit beside you.

“So are you avoiding me because of Scott or because of something I did?” Her tone was casual, nothing to suggest she knew who you were but you could tell she wasn’t happy.

You tried and failed to find something to say, because ‘are you a werewolf hunter hell bent on destroying my best friend’ doesn’t just roll off the tongue.

“Neither.” You shrugged your shoulders, watching as Scott made another goal. 

“I thought you said you were okay with me and Scott?” You turned to her with a confused head tilt and her face was pinched, lips pulled down into an unfair pout.

“I am.” You lied, taking a deep breath. “Look, Scott just feels so bad about ditching you and even though you gave him a second chance he has been pouting to me all day and I’ve been trying to convince him to just talk to you.. He really really likes you, and he’s afraid he’s gonna mess this up. Just-- Just bear with him okay?” 

Allison seemed to take your word for it as she let out a deep breath and gave you a small smile which sparked a tiny bit of anger in you. You could see Allison’s dad and his hunters clear in your mind, full of hatred, and you couldn’t help but think she harbored that hate too.

“What’s wrong with Scott?” Allison asked as she stood up, startling you back into the present and what was going on on the field. 

You noticed Jackson on the field crying in pain but you were to preoccupied with Scott to worry what just happened. You shot right up as Stiles was starting to usher Scott to the locker room.

“Stay here.” You ignored Allison’s shouts of your name as you raced over to Stiles and a struggling and snarling Scott. 

You grabbed Scott’s other arm and started to drag him faster into the School and to the locker rooms.

“I can't control it, it's happening.” You barely heard Scott through the low growls, and you pushed harder till you finally were in the boys locker room. “Get away from me!” Scott growled, slinging you and Stiles backwards until you hit the locker with a loud bang. 

You faintly heard Stiles yelling your name but everything was starting to blur around you. You tried to reach for Stiles, tried to say something, but nothing was coming out. You sank to the floor, your heart pounding as blinding gold eyes found yours, but before you had a chance to be afraid you sank into blackness just as a roar echoed throughout the room.

“Y/N! Y/N.. come on wake up.” Somewhere far away someone was saying your name, but the blinding pain in your head was keeping you from answering. 

You felt hands on your shoulders, shaking you slightly but that made the pain worse and you let out a groan. You heard a loud exhale, and the lockers clang as you were finally able to open your eyes, but you wished you hadn’t as black spots danced across your vision.

“‘Tiles? Wha happ’nd?” You mumbled, seeing your best friend’s concerned face hover over you.

“Scott tried to kill us.” Stiles stated, shrugging his shoulders as if it wasn’t a big deal but you could see the fear in his eyes as he helped you sit up slowly.

“I see we’re still alive, go team human.” You raised your hand for a high five, trying to keep the mood light, but one look at Scott’s horrified face made you lower it.

You sat there in silence, listening to Scott’s deep breathing in sync with your head throbbing before you finally made the first move to get up. 

“Y/N, slow down. Let me help you.” You swatted Stiles' hands away from you, and made your way to your feet with only a small amount of swaying. 

You reached up to the back of your head where the pounding resided and when you felt something sticky you sighed. 

“It looks like I don’t have to worry about swim practice today.” You smiled weekly, pulling your hand back to show Scott and Stiles. 

Scott whimpered, making his way to you and pulling you into a hug. 

“I’m so sorry Y/N, I--”

“Scott it’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to.” You shushed the boy in your arms as you connected your eyes to Stiles who was clearly still panicking. “What made you lose control like that?” You asked as Scott let go of you.

“It's the anger, it's your pulse rising. It's a trigger.” Stiles said, shuffling side-to-side as he gnawed on his thumbnail. 

“But that's Iacrosse. It's a pretty violent game, if you hadn't noticed.” Scott sighed, letting his head bounce off the lockers causing you to wince.

“Well, it's gonna be a Iot more violent if you end up killing someone on the field.” Stiles snapped, and you gave him a tiny glare but he didn’t seem to notice. “You know you can't play Friday. You are gonna have to get out of the game.” 

“But I'm first Iine.” Scott mumbled, eyes cast down to look at his hands which were trembling slightly.

You just squeezed his hand as hard as you could. “Not anymore.”

You gently laid your head on Scott’s shoulder, trying to comfort him, but you both knew it wasn’t going to do much.

\-------

“You’re being ridiculous.” You glared at Stiles as he ushered you into Beacon Memorial and up to the nurses desk. 

“Hey can you page Melissa McCall please.” Stiles asked nurse Amanda who has been a nurse here since the building was built and knew you both quite well. 

“Of course sweetie.” Stiles was still ignoring your glare by the time Melissa came around the corner.

“Hey kids, what’s up?” Stiles shoved you all too unkindly toward Melissa and pointed to the back of your head that still had dried blood on it.

“Y/N hit her head when she accidentally fell off the bleachers and blacked out for a couple of minutes and keeps saying she’s fine but it was bleeding.” You huffed at Stiles as Melissa went into nurse mode and dragged you into an ER room.

After two hours and a clean CT scan later, you were plotting Stiles' death in your head. It was going to be very satisfying.

“Alright well, everything looks good but Stiles you should keep an eye on Y/N tonight and I wrote you an excuse for swim practice for the week.” You thanked Melissa with a hug and kiss on the cheek, which she accepted only after you promised not to be mad at Stiles for brining you in.

It lasted all of the five minute walk to the jeep.

“Hey!” Stiles screamed in pain, rubbing the spot on his arm where you just hit. Hard. 

“You know what that was for, now drive.” You ignored Stiles' grumbling all the way to the school where you could get your own car and promised to meet Stiles back at his house when he got done dropping food off for Noah.

——

You waited in Stiles' room, making yourself comfy on the bed by turning on Stiles' laptop and clicking on Netflix. You spent the next hour or so watching Lucifer when you felt your eyelids start to feel heavy. That feeling only lasted about ten minutes before Stiles was barging into the room, cell phone in hand.

You barely had time to pause Netflix as Stiles reached for the laptop and put it on his desk. You waited in silence as he pulled up skype and after a couple of seconds Scott’s face appeared.

“Well what did you find out?” Scott asked as soon as the screen was in focus.

“Well, it's bad. Jackson's got a separated shoulder.” 

“Because of me?” Scott practically whined, but you didn’t feel bad about it, Jackson probably deserved whatever Scott did to him on the field.

“No, because he's a tool.” Stiles answered automatically causing you to grin.

“Is he gonna play?” You asked, finally getting up from the comfy spot on the bed to stretch your arms and legs. You head throbbed slightly at the movement, but the pain pills Melissa gave you were starving off most of it.

“Oh, they don't know yet.” Stiles said, turning in a circle before coming back to Scott. “Now they're just counting on you for Friday.” You frowned at the laptop screen froze on Scott.

“What the..” Stiles mumbled under his breath as you stepped closer to the screen and noticed a figure behind Scott.

“Scott, someone’s behind you!” You yelled as Stiles started typing, but it was no use, the screen was frozen then went blank. “Oh my god, what if it was a hunter!? Stiles come on!” You grabbed Stiles' hoodie and your keys as you started toward the door but Stiles just told you to wait.

It only took a second before Stiles' phone was ringing and you let out the breath you didn’t know you were holding. Turns out, the figure belonged to none other than Derek Hale, and he told Scott he saw him on the field shifting and losing control and if he played in the game Friday he wouldn’t need hunters to find out, Derek would kill Scott himself.

“What are we going to do?” You asked after Stiles hung up with Scott.

“I don’t know.. Act like everything’s fine and worry about Friday when it comes.” You pursed your lips, hating that plan, but you honestly didn’t have anything better.

\---

As it so happens, pretending that nothing is wrong when you have to worry about werewolves and hunters is harder than it looks. You were exhausted by the time the bell rang to signal the first class of the day on Thursday.

You spent most of the week looking into Allison’s family, much to Scott’s displeasures since he was positive Allison isn’t a hunter like her father. You on the other hand, were a born sceptic, and that comes in handy when your best friend might be dating someone that wants to kill him.

Either way, you have been trying to act normal around her, going for the keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer shtick which has earned you diddly squat in the information department. All you’ve found out from Allison herself is that they moved a lot, but they’ve decided to stick around Beacon Hills until she graduates. 

Although it seemed like wherever the Argents settled, a rise in body counts of the area multiples. Every. Single. Time.

Yay for her, bad for you and every werewolf in Beacon Hills.

You kept telling yourself you just had to make it six more hours then you could go home and relax and try and piece together more of the werewolf puzzle that has plagued your brain for the last week.

You watched as Lydia and Scott were called up to the board to do a math problem, and frowned when it looked like Lydia was bitching at him about something. This would be the one time you wished you had Scott’s super wolfy hearing.

“Mr. McCall, you are not even close to solving your problem.” Mr. Harden’s stale voice fell flat, causing the class to snicker in Scott’s direction.

“Tell me about it.” Scott sighed, turning toward you with a frown and you held up a sheet of paper with the correct answer circled. Scott gave you a tiny smile before turning back toward the board and writing the answer.

You noticed Lydia roll her eyes at you but you gave Scott’s shoulder a tight squeeze as he sat in his seat in front of you.

“What was that about?” You whispered, knowing Scott could hear you. It didn’t take long before a piece of paper landed on your desk with a retold account of what Lydia said about her introducing Allison to all the other lacrosse players if he doesn’t play and they lose.

“What a bitch.” You didn’t realize you said that outloud, but judging by the startled look of the teacher and the laughter around the room, you did.

“Detention Miss Y/L/N and you to Mr. McCall, don’t think I didn’t see that note.”

You and Scott both sighed but resigned yourself to the fact you would be spending an hour after school doing homework in his class. At least Mr. Harden was merciful, he usually let’s his dentioners go once the homework for his class is completed.

“Hey, come here.” Stiles grabbed your and Scott’s arm as soon as you were in the hallway and dragged you over to the side of the hall. 

“What?” Scott grumbled as you all came to a halt where Noah, Clemens, and Principal Harper were standing farther away. 

“Tell us what they're saying.” Stiles pointed to his dad and you watched as Scott strained to hear. “Can you hear them?” 

“Shh!” You whispered, knowing Scott couldn’t hear if he was talking.

“Curfew because of the body.” Scott said, turning toward you both.

“Unbelievable. My dad's out Iooking for a rabid animal while the jerkoff who actually killed the girl is just hanging out, doing whatever he wants.” You hit Stiles on the shoulder, giving him a tiny glare.

“We don’t know Derek killed that girl.” You reminded them both, again. Which they both rolled their eyes at you, again.

“You’re the only one who thinks Derek is innocent Y/N, so majority rules. He’s guilty.” You raised an eyebrow at Stiles, totally unimpressed.

“That’s not even remotely how that works.” You reminded, but they just ignored you and started to talk to each other.

“We can't exactly tell your dad the truth about Derek.” 

“I can do something.” Stiles said, a creepy smile falling on his face. You knew that smile. That smile has gotten you into the back of a cruiser before.

“No.” You tried to be the voice of reason, but it fell flat.

“Like what?” Scott asked, and you just stood there shaking your head at your two best friends.

“Like find the other half of the body.” You ran a hand down your face, knowing you had been out-voted and decided to formulate your own plan. 

\----

You blew off your last class of the day after Mr. Harden reluctantly accepted your apology when you provided your Math homework was completed. You didn’t know exactly where to look for Derek, but you had a good idea and it seemed like you were right when you pulled into the yard of the burnt down Hale house and noticed a black Camaro in the drive.

You were suddenly unsure of what to say, but you needed answers, and dammit you saved this guys life the least he could do was answer them.

“Derek, I know you’re here.” You didn’t bother screaming because, well, werewolf. You didn’t dare go into the house, instead you popped up on the hood of your Jetta and waited.

You pulled out your phone after five minutes, deciding that Derek was ignoring you but it was okay, you were stubborn and could wait him out. You started playing grid block, and you almost reached your high score when a growl echoed through the clearing.

You looked up with a smile to see Derek glaring at you through the doorway leading into the burnt shell of the Hale house. You decided to get off the hood, wanting to be able to run if necessary but you knew it wouldn’t come to that.

“This is private property.” He growled, coming farther out of the house and down the stairs.

“So you’ve said.” You crossed your arms over your chest, waiting patiently. You could tell he was becoming annoyed with you being there, but you didn’t care.

“Do you have a death wish or something?” His eyes flashed a brilliant blue as he shifted. You froze, unable to move as you took in his chiseled jaw with hair sprouting from it, and his fangs which okay, were very very sharp, but the one thing you noticed the most were his eyebrows, or lack thereof.

“Where do your eyebrows go?” You were too entranced in the mystery to be afraid, and when Derek realized his efforts to scare you weren’t going to work he let his face fall back to human.

“I could kill you, literally. I could rip your throat out with my teeth and bury you in a part of the preserve no one would find.” You tilted your head, studying his features before pushing off your car and coming to stand in front of him.

“You could, but you won’t.” Derek frowned at you, eyes searching your entire face for something. 

“What makes you so sure?” He asked, clearly intrigued and you gave him a tiny smirk.

“It’s hard to think the person Laura referred to as 'Bun-Bun' would kill someone.” You watched a couple expression’s fall across Derek’s face, horror, embarrassment, but the one that shocked you the most was anger.

“How did you know Laura?” He asked through a growl, stepping a little closer but you refused to back down.

“She used to babysit me sometimes during the Summers when my mother was working on a big case… with your mom.” You shrugged, trying to avoid the look of utter despair in Derek’s eyes. 

The silence between you was deafening, but you remained in your spot, not willing to back down and Derek must have realized he wasn’t going to get you to leave.

“What do you want Y/N?” He shoved his hands into his leather jacket and turned around to head back into the Hale house. 

You hesitated for just a moment but followed him in. The smell of burnt wood still hung heavily throughout the house, enough to make your throat dry. 

“Answers.” You said, not bothering to look at him as you ran a finger along the burnt wall of the house that held broken picture frames too charred to see who was in them. 

You jumped in surprise as Derek’s hand caught yours, stopping you from touching anything else. You finally met his eyes, and you almost backed away and ran when you noticed how cold they were.

“Then ask a question.” 

“Who are they.. What do they want?” You remained calm even though your heart was bouncing around in your chest from the close proximity.

“The hunter's… most of them follow a code. They only hunt those who hurt innocent people and they aren’t supposed to go after kids. The Argents don’t follow the code, they’re ruthless, they hate werewolves and won’t think twice about killing any they come across.” He let go of your hand and you dropped it to your side to avoid the temptation of touching anything else.

You’d been putting together a lot of things since you found out about Allison’s dad. You dug out some of your fathers old files from before he died that had been buried in the basement, covered in dust, and you were shocked with the inconsistencies in the fire of the Hale house.

You didn’t want to ask, not wanting to bring that up but you had to know. 

“The fire was ruled an accident.. I saw the police report.. But it was the Argent’s wasn’t it?” Derek’s silence spoke a thousand words and you felt your anger coming in waves. 

You didn’t know how someone could just kill 9 people in cold blood, especially children.

“My whole family..” You turned toward Derek as he struggled to speak, your eyes landing on his knuckle white fists. “They weren’t all wolves. My littlest brother Sam who was four was born human and so were my twin cousin’s. They were only 8.” You felt the bile threatening to come up at the thought, but you pushed it back down, replacing it with anger.

“They won’t get away with this.. I’ll-- I’ll tell the sheriff, they need to re-open the accident, rule it a homicide and--”

“No, you can’t do that.” You jumped at Derek’s close proximity, his hand gripping your upper arm tight enough you were sure there would be finger impressions left.

“Why the fuck not? They can’t just get away with murdering innocent people Derek!” The hand tightened to a painful level and you let out a small whimper which caused Derek’s eyes to widen. He let go of you immediately, putting plenty of distance between you both, and you absentmindedly raised your other hand to rub your arm.

You fell into silence again, staring into Derek’s hazel eyes as he watched you carefully until he spoke back up.

“You can’t tell the sheriff.” You glared at him, crossing your arms over your chest defiantly.

“They deserve to pay for what they did.” Derek’s eyes went soft at that, it was the first time you saw any hint of vulnerability but it was gone in a flash.

“Hunter’s have a way of covering everything up and making it look like an accident. If they knew the sheriff was poking around the Hale fire, looking for arson, then they would take care of him.” You’re glare faltered at that, the thought of you’re best friend losing the last parent he has.

“So what, they just get a free pass to kill someone else’s family?” Derek flinched at that, and you felt momentarily guilty. 

You were about to open your mouth to say something else when Derek tilted his head in concentration before scowling at the door. You were about to ask what was wrong, then you heard it.

“Derek! Derek!” Scott’s voice rang loud and clear and you sighed before stepping closer to Derek. 

“Let me talk to him, he doesn’t--” Derek moved toward the open door, ignoring you as he stepped outside and you cursed under your breathe, knowing you were about to be in big trouble. 

You waited a minute before stepping out of the house behind Derek, catching the tail end of there conversation. 

“She doesn't know anything.”

“Yeah? What if she does? You think your Iittle buddy Stiles can just google "Werewolves" and now you've got all the answers, is that it? You don't get it yet, Scott, but I'm Iooking out for you.”

Scott scoffed before he took a deep breath and his eyes zeroed in on you. You could read Scott like a book, he tended to wear his heart on his sleeve, and right now the look of betrayal was evident.

He flashed his eyes at Derek, and you noticed claws were also present. You didn’t know what made you think jumping between a werewolf who was fixing to lunge a good idea, but you did. 

“Scott, stop it and just listen to him!” You felt an arm reach around your waist, and suddenly you were turned away from a jumping Scott. 

Judging by Derek’s painful humph, the claws hit their mark across Derek’s back instead of your chest. You froze, eyes wide as Derek’s deep breaths hit the back of your neck.

“Oh my god.. Y/N I’m so sorry!” The arm around your waist tightened, one last deep breath ghosting across your neck before Derek let go of you in more of a shove and took a couple steps away from you and Scott. 

You ignored Scott to reach for Derek to try and see how deep the marks went but he just shrugged out of your grip and rounded on you with his blue eyes blazing.

“Are you insane?! Never jump into a fight with werewolves, especially one who doesn’t have control!” You shrunk back at the scolding, but you didn’t say anything. There really wasn’t anything to say.

“And you.” Derek sneered at Scott who was still looking at you with puppy eyes. “You almost just killed one of your best friends at the slightest provocation, think about what could happen out on the field, the aggression takes over and you shift in front of everyone. Your mom, all your friends, and when they see you, everything falls apart.” With that Derek turned around and stormed to his Camaro, peeling out of the driveway leaving you and Scott staring after him.

“What were you thinking?” Scott didn’t sound angry, just hurt and you shrugged your shoulders.

“You’d have to be more specific.” That earned you a low growl and you just stared at the dirt. “You and Stiles wouldn’t listen to me, what was I supposed to do Scott?” You threw your hands up in the air before running them through your hair. 

“So you just go behind our backs? What if he would have hurt you?” You glared at Scott then, the anger from earlier coming back full force.

“You don’t get it… He’s not the bad guy Scott, how can you not see that?! Allison and her family are!” Scott just looked at you like you were some pod person before he shook his head.

“You don’t know Allison like I do okay? She isn’t one of them.” It was your turn to scoff at that.

“Think with your head and not your dick, Scott. The Argents are hunters and murderers.” You and Scott were stuck glaring at each other until his phone started to ring. You didn’t have to guess who it was.

“Yeah. Yeah she’s here.” You slapped Scott’s arm but he just glared at you again. “Yeah we’re coming.” Scott then hung up and gave you a smirk but you just rolled your eyes. 

“Thanks for that. It’s not like he worries about me enough.” You muttered, pulling out your phone to see your numerous missed calls and texts.

“He wouldn’t worry if you didn’t live like you had a death wish.” You looked up from your phone to see Scott staring off toward the back of the Hale house.

“What is it now?” You locked your phone and put it in your back pocket and made your way to Scott who was sniffing the air. 

“I smell blood. And look there is some fresh dirt over there.” You followed to where Scott was pointing, and noticed it looked like something maybe was buried.

You’re gut started to twist in unease, but you just shrugged it off. “So what, maybe he’s digging up the dirt for a garden or--”

“Or maybe, he’s burying who he killed.” You glared at the back of Scott’s head, before he turned around and went to his bike. 

“He didn’t kill anyone Scott.” You looked to the freshly dug dirt once more before turning toward your car.

“Then you won’t object to us finding the other half of the body.” You rolled your eyes but stopped at your door to turn back to Scott.

“Fine, but when we find it and figure out it wasn’t Derek, then you lay off him.. Deal?” Scott stared at you for a long moment before he agreed.

“Deal.” You watched as Scott got on his bike and started to leave just as you got another text.

[Stiles] Meet @ Scotts.

It looks like you had a murder to solve and a name to clear.

\---

“What did you find? How did you find it? Where did you find it? And yes, I've had a Iot of Adderall.” You rolled your eyes at Stiles as he was perched on Scott’s bed waiting for you and Scott to arrive.

“I found something at Derek’s.” You glared at Scott but it wasn’t doing any good. You pushed past him to lay on the bed next to Stiles.

“Are you kidding? What?” You let out a deep breath, thanking every god there was that Stiles wasn’t going to lecture you. Right now at least.

“There's something buried there. I could smell blood.” 

“That's awesome.” You smacked Stiles in the arm. “I mean, that's terrible. Whose blood?”

“He doesn’t know.” You smiled, but they both ignored you. Again.

“But when we do, your dad nails Derek for the murder. And then you help me figure out how to play Iacrosse without changing. Because there's no way I'm not playing that game.” You gaped at Scott, unable to form any words as Stiles just nodded along.

An hour, a lecture from Stiles, and one outnumbered argument later you were grumbling behind Scott as he pushed open the morgue doors.

“This is a terrible plan.” You hissed, skirting around all the white clothes that you knew had someone under them.

“You could’ve stayed with Stiles upstairs.” Scott said as he checked the chart for where the body would be stored.

“You needed a lookout and I didn’t want to watch Stiles crash and burn in front of Lydia. Again.” You huffed as you left Scott to do whatever his werewolf thing as you looked out the tiny window of the morgue. 

“You know, you’re gonna have to get over that feud with Lydia eventually.” You ignored Scott and the sound of the metal grates opening up.

“Not going to happen.” You muttered, rubbing your hands over your arms to get warm.

“Why though? What happened was like 7 years ago.” You flinched at the sound of the metal opening every time.

“Maybe, but she still treats Stiles like shit and you too, if you haven’t noticed.” 

“I’ve noticed, I just don’t care like you do. And neither does Stiles, you know his whole ten year plan.” You rolled your eyes, very aware of Stiles' ten year plan to get Lydia to fall in love with him.

“Lydia doesn’t deserve his plan.” You mumbled, still staring out the window but there wasn’t a soul in sight.

“Then who does? You?” You whipped around toward Scott, mouth open wide in shock.

“WHAT.” 

“Come on Y/N… you and Stiles… Stiles and you.. You love him.” Scott just shrugged his shoulders and went back to opening the metal grates.

You didn’t even know how to respond to that. Your love for Stiles was like no other, you knew that, but you didn’t see him that way and you never would.

“I love Stiles.” You stated, and Scott just turned to you with a dopey grin. 

“I know.” Scott said.

“But I’m not in love with him.” The smile slowly fell off Scott’s face as he frowned at your chest. 

“Huh.” Scott stared at you a moment longer before shrugging his shoulders and going back to searching.

“What do you mean ‘huh’? Why would you even think I was in love with Stiles?” Scott hovered with his hand over the handle of one of the metal grates, looking at his feet instead of at you. “Scott?”

“I’ve always thought you guys were in love with each other and I figured out how to tell if someone was lying with my hearing because their heart skips a beat and I’ve asked Stiles before and he denied it but I thought he was lying.” Scott said sheepishly and you just frowned at him.

“So let me guess, you asked him again and he denied it, again, but now you knew he wasn’t lying?” Scott just nodded. “And now you know I’m not lying either.” He nodded again. “Well then, I’m glad we got mine and Stiles platonic love for each other out of the way, how about you find the body.”

Scott hurried up and finally found the body, you had to keep yourself from gagging as Scott took a deep breath. Werewolf powers were weird.

“It’s the same. The blood I smelt at Derek’s.” You frowned at the body.

“That doesn’t make sense..” 

“Y/N, look I get that Derek’s hot and you like him and want to believe him but--” 

“That’s not why I believe him.” You snapped at Scott as you made a quick escape out of the morgue, making sure not to be seen and came up behind Stiles, you startling him by tackling him with a hug.

“Holy God!” He yelped, making you chuckle. 

You heard Scott moving silently behind you, and you realized he really doesn’t make much noise anymore when he moves, just like a predator. 

“The scent was the same.” Scott said, smirking at you slightly but you just continued to glare as you let Stiles go.

“You sure?” Stiles asked, his eyes lighting up at the possibility of being right.

“Yes.” 

“So he did bury the other half of the body on his property.” Stiles said, grinning at Scott nodded his head.

“We don’t know that.” You argued but was ignored. Again.

You really needed new friends.

“Which means we have proof he killed the girl. I say we use it.” You could tell Stiles was formulating a plan, which meant there was a slight chance you were going to be arrested.

“How?” Scott asked, a little too eagerly.

“Are you doing this because you want to find out who killed her or because you want to play in the game and Derek said you couldn't?” You asked, crossing your arms over your chest.

“There were bite marks on the Iegs, Y/N. Bite marks.” You just shook your head.

“So what? Maybe it was the same werewolf that bit you.” The air hung as the three of you stared at each other, but you gave in first. “Okay. Fine, but we're gonna need shovels.”

You pushed past your two best friends, not bothering to see if they were following you. You still felt cold from the morgue and no amount of heat was warming you up. Flashes of the last time you were there, identifying your mom and dad, kept coming to the surface and you tried your best to shake them off because you had a killer to find.

\---

“Wait, something's different.” Scott stopped in front you, causing you to run into his back. 

“Different how?” Stiles asked, looking around but there was no one there beside you and Scott.

“I don't know.” Scott answered.

“Let's just get this over with.” You mumbled, pushing past them with one of the shovels. 

You didn’t want to be there any longer than necessary, especially since it was getting darker by the second. You spent a couple minutes digging before calling it quits and letting the boys do it. You were looking around the trees, trying to find something that wasn’t there so you could grab them and high-tail it out of there.

“This is taking way too Iong.” Stiles grumbled. It was still light enough to see he was starting to sweat, but Scott seemed perfectly fine. 

“Just keep going.” Scott growled back, digging a little faster as you just supervised.

“What if he comes back?” You asked, knowing that it wouldn’t matter either way. 

“Then we get the hell out of here.” Stiles said, stopping a moment to look up at you with a pinched expression.

“And if he catches you?” You crossed your arms over your chest as you glared at your best friend.

“I have a plan for that.”

“Which is?” 

“We all run our separate ways, he can’t catch all of us.” You gaped at Stiles as Scott chuckled.

“I know I’m faster than you, so he’ll eat you first.” You gave Stiles a sarcastic smile before turning away and rubbing your hands down your arms.

Silence fell throughout the backyard, the only sounds coming from behind you as the boys kept digging. It only took a couple minutes before they found something.

“AII right. Stop, stop, stop!” Scott hissed, throwing the shovel aside.

“Hurry up.” Stiles shoved Scott out of the way as you peered over the hole to see a brown sack covered in what appeared to be twine.

“I'm trying.” Scott and Stiles both started to undo the twine but weren’t having much luck. “Did he have to tie the thing in Iike 900 knots?”

“Move, I'II do it.” You grumbled, jumping into the hole with the boys and started working on the knots twice as fast. It only took a couple of seconds and when the last one finally gave way, Stiles uncovered the sack.

You screamed first, followed by Stiles and Scott as all three of you stumbled your way out of the hole.

“Whoa! What the hell is that?” Scott gagged as you just stared into the hole. 

“A wolf.” You said numbly, which earned you a tiny glare from Scott.

“Yeah. I can see that.”

“I thought you said you smelled blood? As in human blood?” Stiles asked, turning toward Scott.

“I told you something was different.” Scott just shrugged his shoulders, reaching for you to pull you away from your staring.

“This doesn't make sense.” Stiles stated as he narrowed his eyes at the hole like it held all the answers. “We gotta get out of here.” 

“Yeah, okay, help me cover this up.” Scott sighed like he was truly upset he didn’t discover derek was a murderer.

Scott and Stiles jumped into the hole to start covering the dead wolf when suddenly Stiles stopped.

“What's wrong?” You frowned down at the pair as Scott stopped too.

“Do you see that flower?” You followed Stiles as he pointed to the purple looking plant.

“What about it?” Scott asked, clearly confused.

“I think it's wolfsbane.” You said, walking over to the flower. You touched the petal lightly to examine it closer ignoring Scott and Stiles bickering beside you.

“What's that?”

“Seriously, you haven't you ever seen The WolfMan?”

“No.”

“Lon Chaney Jr? CIaude Rains? The original classic werewolf movie?” 

“No.” 

You snorted a laugh at that as Stiles just shook his head with a sigh.

“You are so unprepared for this.” Stiles heaved another sigh causing you to chuckle and Scott to pout as he grabbed the shovel again. 

You picked at the flower again, and when you did you noticed the twine wrapped around the base that was buried. 

“Uh, guys…” You mumbled, picking up the plant to see more and more of the twine the body was wrapped in. 

You started to pull harder, unearthing the ground around where the wolf was buried. You pulled and followed the twine in a circle around the grave until Stiles made you stop by grabbing your arms and holding you in place.

“Don’t look.” Stiles whispered, but he should know by now telling you not to do something only made you want to do it more.

You shrugged out of Stiles' grip and peered into the hole and froze. The wolfsbane plant was acting as some sort of supernatural blocker, hiding the body in wolf form, but as soon as you disturbed it, it stopped working.

“No….” You felt an icy coldness wash over you as you stared at Laura Hale’s body in the grave. “Derek wouldn’t do this. He wouldn’t kill her.”

Derek lost too many people for him to kill the last remaining family he has.

“Y/N.. he buried the body with wolfsbane to cover it up. He isn’t the person you thought he was.” You didn’t bother to disagree with Stiles, you knew they both had their minds made up about Derek before you even arrived to dig up anything.

You let Stiles usher you away as Scott said he’d finish up. You were silent as Stiles helped you into the jeep, glad he wasn’t trying to fill the void for once.

He grabbed your hands, trying to make them stop shaking. “I have to call my dad.” 

“I know.” And you did. 

You knew this was bad. That this looked absolutely terrible for Derek and there honestly wasn’t anything you could say to defend him that they would believe because all you had was your gut. And it was tightening in anger, for Derek and for Laura and all the Hales. You knew by the look in Derek’s eyes earlier something else was going on and finding Laura just confirmed it.

You watched Stiles shut the door to the Jeep and go converse with Scott. You wanted to stop them because every fiber of your being was screaming that they were wrong. The only thing stopping you was the fact you had no idea why you believed Derek was innocent and it would do no good because Scott was drunk on Argent Koolaide and Stiles was a facts and figures person. Your gut was not a reliable source and you knew it wouldn’t be for the police either. 

\-----

Wolves, dead bodies and ugly purple flowers plagued your dreams all night and you were thankful for daylight come morning. What you weren’t thankful for was being drug out of bed and to a crime scene by your best friends.

You were watching alongside Scott and Stiles as Derek was cuffed and brought out of the old Hale house. You noticed Derek glaring at Scott and Stiles as he was put in the back of the deputy cruiser, but he didn’t even look at you, which somehow hurt worse.

You couldn’t stand it any longer as your brain screamed wrong, wrong, wrong.

You looked around for anyone watching and slipped out behind the jeep to go to the cruiser, but Stiles was way ahead of you. You heard Scott hiss for you both to get back, but you followed Stiles into the cruiser. 

“Okay, just so you know, I'm not afraid of you.” You heard Stiles hiss as he turned around and stared at Derek. You pushed Stiles hard toward the driver's seat as you climbed into the cruiser too. “Okay, maybe I am. Doesn't matter. I just wanna know something. Laura, she was a werewolf but a different kind, wasn't she? I mean, she can turn herself into an actual wolf and I know Scott can't do that.” You watched as Derek just glared at Stiles and completely ignored you. “Is that why you killed her?” 

You couldn’t do anything but just gape at Stiles. He had all night to come up with a theory as to why and that was all he had? Jesus. 

“Why are you so worried about me when it's your friend who's the problem? When he shifts on the field, what do you think they're gonna do, huh? Just keep cheering him on?” Derek growled low in his throat causing Stiles’s eyes to widen a fraction. 

Derek finally looked to you, eyes hard as he leaned close the gate separating the back seat from the front. You could see the tiny bit of betrayal swirling in his green eyes, enough to make you feel more guilty than it should for someone you barely know.

“I can't stop him from playing, but you can.” You bit your lip, gnawing on the skin to keep from asking how. “And trust me, you want to.” Derek leaned back into the seat just as you felt a sharp tug on your arm pulling you from the car. 

“Hey! Ow! Ow, ow, ow.” Stiles grumbled, swatting his dad’s hand from his ear as the sheriff pulled him out after you.

“What the hell do you two think you're doing?” Noah hissed, grabbing both of your arms and leading you back toward the jeep where Scott was watching sheepishly.

“We’re just trying to help.” Stiles shrugged once before clapping his dad on the back which earned him a glare.

“Uh-huh. Okay, well, how about you help me understand exactly how you came across this.” 

“We were Iooking for Scott's inhaler.” You said, turning your head away from the cruiser and Derek and back toward the lecture at hand.

“Which he dropped when?”

“The other night.” You gave Noah a small smile but you could tell by the vein in his forehead that your usual attempts of getting out of trouble weren’t going to work this time.

“The other night when you both were out here Iooking for the first half of the body?”

“Yes.” Stiles answered automatically.

“The night that you told me you two were alone and Scott was at home?”

“Yes.”

“No.” You smacked Stiles in the arm, but he moved to avoid you at the last second.

“So you Iied to me?” Noah asked, placing his hands on his hips, waiting for a response.

“That depends on how you define Iying.” Stiles was just tempting fate at this point and you were not going to go down with him so you remained faithfully silent.

“Well, I define it as not telling the truth. How do you define it?” Noah crossed his arms over his chest as you reached for Stiles' hand and squeezed hard to get him to shut up. 

“Reclining your body in a horizontal position?” 

It was obviously no use.

“Get the hell out of here.” Noah bit back, the vein beginning to bulge even more.

“Absolutely.” You said, giving Noah one last smile before tugging Stiles with you. 

You didn’t waste any time shoving Stiles at Scott just as the cruiser housing Derek turned on. You watched as they backed out of the driveway, and you didn’t know if Derek would even be listening but you wanted him to know you were on his side.

“I know you didn’t kill Laura.” You were afraid Scott might have heard but he was too busy arguing with Stiles to call you out on it. “Come on morons.” You opened the door to Roscoe, climbing in the back without another word.

“I can't find anything about wolfsbane being used for burial.” Scott said about three minutes into the drive.

“Just keep Iooking.” Stiles said, taking the turn closest toward

“Maybe, it's Iike a ritual or something. Maybe they bury you as a wolf.” You said, trying to bring a little perspective to the current situation.

“Or maybe it's Iike a special skill. You know, Iike something you have to Iearn.”

“I'II put it on my to-do Iist. Right underneath, ‘Figure out how the hell I'm playing this game tonight.’” Scott mumbled, tapping his phone hard enough to be heard from the back seat.

"Maybe it's different for girl werewolves..” Stiles wondered aloud causing Scott to growl.

“Okay, stop it. Stop saying werewolves. Stop enjoying this so much!” Stiles’s jaw shut with a loud click and you glared at Scott through the rearview mirror.

“Stop taking your anger on him.” You snapped but Stiles just waved you off.

“Are you okay?” Stiles asked, not even bothered by Scott’s outburst. Typical.

“No.. No, I'm not. I'm so far from being okay.” Scott dropped back into the seat, letting his head hang back with enough force to cause you to wince. 

It was silent except for Scott’s angry breathing in the front for about five minutes until you spoke up.

“You know, you're gonna have to accept this, Scott. Sooner or Iater.” You were trying not to sound angry but it came out that way regardless.

“I can't--”

“Well, you're gonna have to.” You hissed as Scott started to growl.

“No!” He screamed, his heavy breathing becoming erratic and you leaned up toward the front to put your hand on Scott’s shoulder. “I can't breathe.” He gripped his throat, another growl coming from him as he reached for Stiles' bag in the floorboard of the backseat.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.” You heard Stiles say as the jeep jerked with the force of Scott moving and you pushed back in the seat and away from him.

You yelled at Stiles to pull over as Scott ripped open the backpack and picked up the wolfsbane flower.

“You kept it?” Scott was now half screaming and half growling.

“What was I supposed to do with it?” Stiles swerved the jeep again, sending you almost through the window as Scott started to shake. 

“Stop the car!” You held your head in your hand, the other gripping Stiles' seat to keep from flying from the car as he slammed on the breaks. 

Everything was a little fuzzy, but you made out Stiles grabbing his backpack and jumping out of the jeep. It was no use though, Scott made a break for it just as quick. When the black dots left your vision you climbed in the front seat, yelling for Scott to come back but he was gone.

“Nice going genius.” You turned around to see Stiles climbing back into the jeep. You felt hands on your face and when you looked at Stiles he was staring at you with that worried expression you’ve become too familiar with.

“This is why I always tell you to wear your seatbelt.” He sighed, rubbing his thumb over your cheek which caused you to smile.

“I’m fine Stilinski.” You let Stiles fuss over you for a few more seconds before pulling back and relaxing in the seat. “Now what?” You turned to look at Stiles who was slumped in his seat like you. 

“Now.. we try and keep Scott from shifting in front of everyone tonight.” Stiles sighed, then sat up and started the jeep. 

“He shouldn’t play.. You know that right?” 

“He shouldn’t play just because Derek says he shouldn’t?” Stiles asked, eyes scrunching together as he looked between you and the road.

“This isn’t about Derek, Stiles! He shouldn’t because he could hurt someone. He’s just mad at Derek so he’s being stubborn, and he won’t listen to me.. But maybe he’ll listen to you.” You let your words weigh on Stiles as silence filled the jeep. 

“I’ll try.. Okay?” You just nodded before letting your head rest on the window. When you closed your eyes, all you could see was green ones staring back at you.

\----

The whole day at school was spent trying to convince Scott not to play. You only tried for the first to classes and gave up, Stiles however was resilient. Instead you spent the day trying to stay away from Allison and Scott because your temper and anxiety were getting the best of you and you were afraid you would explode on either of them.

Stiles texted you and said his attempts at keeping Scott from playing failed, and now you were just going to have to worry in the stands. You pulled Stiles lacrosse hoodie tighter around you as you walked toward the bleachers. 

You were going for your usual seat in front with Scott’s mom and sometimes the sheriff, but stopped when you heard your name being called from a few feet up. You froze when your eyes connected with who was beside Allison. 

“Y/N come sit with us!” Allison’s smile was bright and happy and you felt your feet moving even though your brain was screaming for you to run but you just soldiered on, trying to come up with a plan as you sat on the step right below Allison’s father, who was watching your every move. “Dad this is Y/N, Scott’s best friend. Y/N this is my dad, Chris.”

“We’ve met.” Allison tilted her head in confusion as the hunter, Chris, just glared at you. 

“Really? How?” Allison was playing naive really well, and just as you were fixing to tell her to give it up, Chris patted you on the shoulder.

“She broke down on the side of the road, I was driving by and helped her fix her tire.” Chris’s hand squeezed your shoulder causing you to grit your teeth to keep from making a sound of pain. 

“Yeah he was a real peach, your dad.” You lied through your teeth, giving him a fake smile. 

You let out a small sigh of relief when he let go of your shoulder, but you clenched your hands to keep them from rubbing at the spot that was pulsing, not wanting to give the hunter the satisfaction.

You had never been thankful for Lydia Martin until just now as she strutted up the bleachers and parked her strawberry blonde self right beside Allison. The girl immediately drew Allison into a pointless conversation about shoes, which left you and Chris to talk quietly.

“A flat tire huh? I remember things a little differently.” You raised an eyebrow at the hunter who narrowed his eyes at you.

“Keep quiet.” He hissed, letting his eyes cut back to Allison but she wasn’t paying any attention to either of you.

“Or what?” You asked, smiling at him for real. You watched as Chris glared at you, eyes full of rage and realization started to dawn on you. “She really doesn’t know what you do for a living does she?” 

“No and she won’t find out from you either.” You frowned at that, but it quickly turned into a mischievous smile.

“Yeah, it’d be a shame if she found out you killed innocent people for some speciest and ignorant way of thinking.” You turned toward the field, and noticed Scott was staring at you along with Stiles. 

You heard shuffling behind you and refused to flinch when you felt a breath close to your ear.

You straightened up, head held high as Chris whispered in your ear. “They’re monsters, not people.” 

“The only monster’s I see here is your family.” You held your gaze on the field, not giving Chris the satisfaction of looking at him but you could feel his smile and eyes on you as he patted your shoulder again--much harder than necessary-- and turned back to Allison.

You let out a deep breath as the whistle blew to signal the start of the game and watched as Scott and Jackson took the field. You didn’t miss Noah climbing the bleachers with Melissa, and you gave him a tiny wave which he returned with a frown.

“You okay?” He mouthed and you had to grin at that. You gave him a small smile and a thumbs up and he finally relented his stare and focused on the game going on. 

You could feel Chris’s eyes on you the whole game, watching as you cheered when Beacon Hills scored and booed at a rough play from the other team. You tried to act as normal as possible, but you kept chewing on the ends of Stiles' hoodie strings as you watched Scott for any signs of wolfy-ness.

“Which one is Scott again?” You heard Chris ask behind you, drawing your attention back to them for the first time since the beginning of the game.

“Number 11.” Allison stated proudly, making you smile and you could tell Scott was listening if his head tilted toward the bleachers like a dog.

“Otherwise known as the only one who hasn't caught a single ball this entire game.” Lydia sighed, and you finally turned around to give her a tiny glare, even though you were happy Scott hasn’t really had the chance to wolf out. 

“I hope he's okay.” Allison said, worry clear in the way she was watching every move Scott made with puppy dog eyes.

They were seriously meant for each other.

“I hope we're okay. We need to win this.” Lydia said, reaching behind her for something. “AIIison? Little help here?” You rolled your eyes as she produced a sign made of glitter with Jackson’s name and number.

You ignored Lydia and her screams of ‘Go Jackson’ as the crowd cheered along. You turned back just in time to see the other team deliberately pass Scott the ball. You watched in horror as Scott used his wolfness to pass by every member of the other team and throw the ball into the net. 

“Yeah! Yes! That's what To McCall! Pass to McCall! To McCall!” Coach Finstock was yelling to every player as they got the ball back after the other team missed the goal. 

“No no no no no.” You mumbled, standing up and rushing toward the bench as you ignored Allison’s call of your name. “What the hell is he doing?” You slapped Stiles' arm, causing him to jump in surprise.

“Winning?” Stiles offered, eyes full of just as much worry and you ran a hand down your face before settling in beside Stiles. 

“Y/L/N, I don’t remember you trying out for Lacrosse, get back to the stands!” You gave coach a dazzling smile which he just sighed at. “Just..stay out of the way.” He grumbled, turning back toward the pitch where Scott was running like a mad man through the other players to score.

The crowd erupted into cheers but you and Stiles were watching with bated breath as Scott seemed to be struggling with control through the final half of the game. Everyone was jumping up and down screaming when Scott made the next goal, even Stiles but you weren’t as enthusiastic.

The score was tied 5-5 and there was only time for one more play to the net, and Scott had the ball but it looked like he was slowing down instead of speeding up. You slowly rose to your feet along with Stiles, mumbling no over and over again as if it would help.

You were about to just run on the field, cause a distraction but Stiles grabbed your wrist to keep you in place. The buzzer was counting down and just as you were about to shrug Stiles off, Scott took the swing.

Stiles and the stands erupted in cheers as they won. You lost Scott in all the chaos, but finally caught sight of the maroon number 11 jersey heading toward the school. You made to follow him, leaving Stiles behind to talk to Noah and almost made it before you were drug toward the side of the school away from prying eyes.

A scream was on the tip of your tongue, but it couldn’t be let out because of the hand over your mouth. You started to struggle, but whoever had you was strong. Too strong.

“Stop struggling, you’re fine.” You immediately relaxed as Derek’s voice filled the air, and once you calmed down enough he removed his hand. He took a step back from you, but before he could get all the way away you shoved him.

Hard.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?! You scared the shit out of me!” He didn’t budge at all from the shove, which, duh, werewolf.

“Scott shifted on the field, just like I told you he would. He could have seriously hurt someone.” Derek of course ignored your anger as he glared at you, but you just shrugged.

“Yeah.. but he didn’t. You have to enjoy the small victories.” 

“And next time?” You glared at the older man in front of you as you pushed off the wall to stand toe to toe with him.

“Then help him, Derek.” His eyes flashed the brilliant blue you were getting accustomed to seeing on him but you didn’t move.

“What do you think I’ve been trying to do?” He growled, eyes not leaving yours for a second but losing their blue and turning back to their normal shade of green.

“I think you’ve been trying to intimidate him and force him on your side. You don’t know Scott like I do. He’s stubborn okay. He doesn’t respond to force and secrets, but he will respond to friendship and honesty--”

“I don’t want to be friends with some punk kid who only cares about his own life instead of the safety of those around him.” He spat, and you threw your hands in the air in defeat.

“Well, the only way for Scott to work on his wolfness is by getting him to trust you, which he doesn’t, because you won’t tell him what the hell is going on.. Like who bit him.” You and Derek stood there for what felt like hours, but he refused to say anything so you just shook your head and turned to leave. 

You were silently fuming as you walked away until you heard Derek’s voice behind you. 

“I don’t know.” He sounded pained, like the words were forced out of him against his free will.

“You don’t know what?” You stopped, turning around with your arms crossed over you chest expectantly.

“I don’t know who bit Scott.. But whoever did it, killed Laura and stole her alpha spark.” You watched Derek closely, noticing how defeated he sounded and how much younger he looked.

“I believe you.” You said, not knowing if that made a difference to him or not.

“Scott doesn’t.”

“I’ll make him.. Just give me time.” Derek’s eyes roamed your face for any sort of lie, before nodding his head and turning around. You watched him disappear in the shadow’s like a ninja, and only took a moment to be impressed before heading back toward the school with a heavy heart.

You turned the corner practically running into Stiles who jumped a bit before grabbing your arm and pulling you into the school.

“Come on we have to find Scott.” You followed behind him silently, and into the boys locker room. You and him rounded the corner at the exact moment to see Scott and Allison in a passionate lip lock.

You made a small squawk of surprise, pulling Stiles with you and around the corner before the two love birds could see you both. You and Stiles smiled at each other, and you peaked around the locker to see them still making out.

Gross.

You made a gagging motion as Stiles silently laughed beside you and finally relaxed on the locker wall. You were about to drag Stiles out of the room when you heard Allison speak up.

“Um.. I have to get back to my dad.” You and Stiles both peaked around the corner to see Allison and Scott smiling stupidly at each other.

She turned around and you noticed a faint blush on her cheeks when she saw you and Stiles caught them.

“Hi, Stiles.. Y/N.” You wiggled your eyebrows at her and she just laughed and bounced out of the room as fast as possible.

“I kissed her.” Scott sighed dopily, coming to stand in front of you and Stiles.

“We saw.” You said, punching Scott’s arm lightly causing him to laugh.

“She kissed me.” Scott’s smile was infectious and before you knew it, you were smiling with him.

“We saw that too.” Stiles rolled his eyes but was still smiling a little bit.

“I don't know how, but I controlled it, I pulled it back. Maybe I can do this. Maybe it's not that bad.” Scott seemed relaxed for the first time since he gotten bitten and you couldn’t find it in your heart to tell him about Derek, at least not tonight.

“Yeah.. We'II talk Iater then.” Stiles seemed resigned as he punched Scott lightly and grabbed your arm to leave. You gave him a concerned look but he was ignoring you.

“What now?” Scott groaned, making Stiles turn around and you stood silently waiting for Stiles to spill whatever it was that was making him act so weird.

“The medical examiner Iooked at Laura’s body..” You stiffened at the mention of Laura, flashing back to the conversation you had with Derek not even 5 minutes ago.

“And?” Scott prompted, looking a little annoyed. 

“Well, I'II keep it simple. Medical examiner determines killer of girl to be animal, not human.  
Derek is human not animal. Derek not killer. Derek Iet out of jail.” You felt your heart rate speed up at the mention of Derek, but Scott didn’t seem to notice.

“Are you kidding?”

“No.” Stiles huffed. “So we have to be on the look out for him, make sure he doesn’t do anything else.” Scott nodded in agreement, both of them turning to you with a frown since you have been to quiet.

“Yeah-- yeah. Derek bad, no talk to him, watch out.” Scott seemed satisfied with your answer but Stiles was watching you skeptically. 

He looked like he wanted to say something, maybe call you out on it, but before he got the chance the lacrosse team started piling into the locker room. 

“Y/L/N, last time I checked this was the boys locker room, and since you aren’t a boy, get the hell out!” You gave coach your best smile as the rest of the team snickered at you. 

“Aye aye Coach!” You gave him your best mock salute, sparing a small glance at your best friends before making your way out of the room in a hurry.

The halls were eerily quiet, the only sound coming from the echoes of the locker room. You walked slowly back to your car, eyes peeled for anything that might pop out at you. It seemed like forever before you got to the door, but before you could reach for the handle you saw a shadow fall over your door.

The parking lot wasn’t exactly empty, there were still students loitered about and some parents but you were parked enough in the shade for no one to notice you. 

“Hey wolf girl, fancy meeting you here. All alone.” Your spine stiffened, hands flexing on your keys before turning around slowly. 

At first glance you didn’t recognize him, but upon further inspection realized he was one of the guys with Allison’s father in the woods the other night.

“What do you want.” You weren’t in any mood to play games with hunters.

“A lot of things..” He mused, taking a small step toward you with his hands shoved in his pockets to look non threatening. 

You backed up into your door, hands gripping your car key tighter. You weren’t dumb, and neither was he, you knew he wouldn’t try anything when you could easily yell for help, but that didn’t make the sinking feeling in your gut any lighter.

You heard a small rustle in the woods behind the man, when you saw two glowing blue orbs you felt your muscles start to relax.

“You have three seconds to get the fuck away from me before I scream.” You stood up straighter, keeping your eyes over the guys shoulder and locked with Derek.

“And what a pretty scream it would be..” You refused to flinch as his hand came in contact with your cheek, smoothing your hair back behind your ear. 

“Don’t.” You said loud enough for Derek to hear, because you knew he was about one wrong move from coming out of the shadows and making his werewolf self known.

“Don’t what wolf girl? Touch you?” The guy was obviously the worst hunter ever to not knowing that a 200lb werewolf was right behind him and couldn’t easily rip him apart.

“Don’t think just because I’m human, that you’re safe.” His hand faulted on your jaw, before he pulled back with a smirk.

“I like you wolf girl.” The guy put his hands back in his pockets and finally scooted away from you with a smile that made your skin crawl. He stepped into the light for the first time, and you finally got a good look at his face. 

He was a little older than you originally thought, maybe 20 or 21, compared to the other guy with a tattoo who you guessed to be 30. His cold blue eyes and sharp jaw line looked familiar, almost like you had seen him around before but you knew you would have noticed him. Unfairly attractive people stood out in your brain. 

“Word of advice?” You broke away from staring, and raised an eyebrow at him. “Pretty girls like you shouldn’t wander around alone. A lot can happen in a town like this.” You watched him walk away, humming to himself as he climbed into a black SUV. 

Your eyes didn’t leave the SUV until it was out of the parking lot, not bothering to turn around when you heard footsteps behind you.

“I thought you left.” You shook your hand lightly, trying to get the feeling back from where you were holding the keys too tight.

“Good thing I didn’t.” Derek growled, and you felt a small smile come over your face as you turned around to see him glaring at the last spot the SUV was seen.

“You need to be more careful, that guy could have caught you.” Derek turned to you with a laugh, but it was anything but amusing.

“Me be careful? That guy was specifically looking for you. He didn’t even know I was here.” You glared at Derek, crossing your arms over your chest to try and look intimidating.

“He would have if you came tearing through the trees like you were about to, and don’t say you weren’t.” Derek’s eyes narrowed on you but you didn’t feel scared. You were starting to build a tolerance to his glare.

“He touched you.” He said it like that made all the sense in the world, but you scoffed.

“So what? I’m a big girl Derek, I can take care of myself. He doesn’t scare me.” You mentally scolded yourself, knowing full well by the judgy look on his face that he knew you were lying.

“Don’t mouth off to the hunters and stay out of the way Y/N.” He turned to leave but you grabbed him by the arm so he couldn’t ninja himself way this time.

“Derek, I’m not going to stop helping Scott… or you.” He watched you for a long moment before slowly peeling your hand off his arm with a scowl.

“I don’t need your help.” He threw your hand to the side, ignoring your glare and turned around to stalk into the woods like a true wolf. 

You didn’t stop staring into the space in the trees where Derek went until you heard your name being called.

“Party at my place to celebrate the win!” You heard cheers behind you at Danny’s announcement, and saw Stiles walking up to you with Scott following behind.

“Hey I told Dad I was going to go to Danny’s, and he gave the do not drink speech, you coming?” You looked back to the woods one last time, before turning to Stiles with your best fake smile.

“Let’s do it.” Stiles high fived Scott before throwing his arm around your shoulder and steering you toward the jeep. You felt eyes on your back the whole walk, but you kept moving your feet in rhythm with Stiles. 

One foot in front of the other, just like you have been doing the past two years.


	3. Enemy Number One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N tries to balance becoming enemy number one with the hunters while trying to get Scott and Stiles to trust Derek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> underage drinking, drugging, slight dubcon? (nothing to bad)

The party was in full swing, seeing as half of Beacon Hills was already in attendance. It looked like Danny’s older brother Mike was back from college for the weekend and started the party early. You followed behind Scott and Stiles as they passed by the back gate of Danny’s house, or mansion, whatever you wanted to call it and made the way to the backyard where the music was pumping from a DJ.

Lydia might throw the best parties in Beacon Hills now, but Michael Mahealani will always be the king of parties. It’s been quiet since he went off to college two years ago and left his legacy to Lydia, but it looks like he put the crown back on for this rager.

“I forgot what a legend Mike's parties were.” Scott exhaled slowly, his eyes going a little glassy with the overwhelming sights and sounds.

“You okay?” You squeezed his arm lightly but he just gave you a small smile and shook you off.

“Fine, just a lot of noises… and smells.” Scott wrinkled his nose in the adorable way that had him looking like a bunny and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“As I live and breathe.. Y/N Y/L/N.. Damn you grew up nicely.” You turned toward the voice you haven’t heard since he hightailed it out of Beacon Hills for Caltech. 

“You’re praise means everything to me Mikey, seriously, how have I lived without it?” You rolled your eyes but there was still a smile on your face regardless as Mike crushed you into a hug.

“Glad to see you haven’t lost your feistiness since I left. Hello, Y/N’s friends.. Mcnash and the sheriff’s kid right?” Stiles rolled his eyes, as he always does but just nodded as Mike shook their hands and Scott corrected his last name. ”So Y/N.. Danny still not got his head of his ass and asked you to marry him yet?” You couldn’t help but laugh at the long standing joke in the Mahealani household.

You and Danny had been good friends since his family moved from Hawaii back in 5th grade, his dad working at the firm with your own mom. You actually remembered Mike babysitting you and Danny begrudgingly when Laura was busy.

“Sadly, no, I’m still not his type.” You sighed mournfully as Danny came up holding out a drink for you with an eye roll for his big brother.

“Well, don’t let my brother’s stupidity keep you from enjoying the party.” You snickered as Mike grabbed Danny and put him in a loving headlock.

“Oh trust me, I won’t.” You smirked at the brothers and took a giant gulp of the punch that was spiked at just the right amount of alcohol to juice ratio. 

“Come on little bro, it’s time for you to introduce me to the boyfriend mom keeps yapping about so I can intimidate him. Y/N it was lovely to see you again, please feel free to hit me up as soon as the clock strikes 12:01 on your 18th birthday.” He gave you a lecherous wink, which you returned with a thumbs up causing everyone around to laugh.

“He seems nice.” Scott said, his eyes trailing over the crowd since Stiles left to go get drinks.

“He is nice, Scott.” You rolled your eyes at his not so subtle hinting. “But that is never going to happen, it’s all in good fun.”

“He wasn’t lying when he said it was good to see you, or when he said you grew up nicely.” Scott raised an eyebrow at you as you downed the rest of your drink. 

“It was all just fun Scott, nothing serious. Trust me.” You felt your skin heat up as the alcohol made its way through your body, leaving you with a pleasant floaty feeling and slowly starting to gnaw away at your anger from Derek.

“What’s all fun?” Stiles asked, coming back with two drinks and handing one to Scott who politely declined.

“Nothing.” You said as you took Scott's supposed drink from Stiles' hand and took a sip.

“Hey, slow down.” Stiles grabbed the drink and brought it away from your mouth with a small noise of protest from you.

“Stiles, I’m fine.” You rolled your eyes and took the drink out of his grip. 

“Yeah well I don’t want to have to carry you to a hospital like last time.” He snapped back, causing you to flinch. 

Low blow. There was a specific no bringing up the binger from two years ago policy. Ever.

“Well I never asked you to do anything for me Stiles, so don’t worry.” The reasonable part of your brain was telling you to stop, but the alcohol let you become more angry and you turned around to stalk off leaving your best friend behind.

You weren’t stumbling, but you weren’t exactly walking in a straight line either after downing the second drink. You half expected Stiles to be behind you when you turned around, but he was still in the distance talking to Scott who seemed to be keeping Stiles from coming after you.

Scott’s such a good friend. You couldn’t help but think you should buy him treats, then that had you snickering at yourself because, treats--dogs-- werewolf.

Apparently your life was hilarious when you’re drunk.

The Mahealani backyard expanded into the preserve, where the huge bonfire and keg seem to have taken up residence. You moved away from the house and DJ and closer to the fire, swiping up a cup from the keg guy who you thought graduated last year and was checking you out. 

You saved that piece of information for later.

You were slightly more on the drunk side now that two punches were in your system, so nursing the beer seemed like the best idea to your swimming head. You were occasionally bumped into as you made your rounds around the fire, saying high to a few people from School and a few that graduated with Mike. 

Just as you were about to walk back toward Stiles and Scott, you felt yourself bumped into again but this time it came with a sharp stab in your shoulder which made you angry again, because, ow. And the jerk didn’t even apologize.

Before you could yell at him, he was gone, and the music was starting to cause your head to spin and the fire was making your whole body hot so you started to walk into the preserve just enough to try and clear your head. You looked into the half drunk cup of beer, debating whether to finish it or pour it out when you heard Stiles' voice in your head.

“What are you doing Y/N..” You mumbled, shaking your head to try and clear it but it just made the woods spin instead. 

You poured the beer out.

Tugging your hoodie around you despite how hot your body felt, you were about to turn back toward the bonfire and house when you heard the crunch of woods behind you. You smiled to yourself, thinking Stiles and Scott must have found you but when you turned around, ready to apologize, the smile slowly started to fall.

“Clemens?” Your words might have been slurring. A little. 

“Y/N.. are you okay?” Suddenly there were hands on your body, hands that really shouldn’t be there but the light from the bonfire was still visible and piercing blue eyes were watching you. Eyes that were so so familiar. 

“Eyes.” You weren’t making sense. You knew you weren’t making sense but the woods were spinning and there were eyes that you knew were terrifying but Clemens was wearing them so they couldn’t be bad. 

But they were.

“Hey hey, you’re okay.” No, no you were not because there was blue eyes and werewolves, and hunters, and hands that seem to be leading you away from the bonfire.

“Stop.” You shoved Clemens away, stumbling into a tree in the process but you felt like you couldn't breathe, so you knew that was the right thing to do. 

“Y/N you’re drunk, you need to let me take you home.” Hands. There were hands again and you really really really didn’t want there to be hands.

“No no no no.” You were mumbling and you tried to shake out of the grip but this time you couldn’t. You’re brain was trying to piece something together but it was like you couldn’t get the piece to fit no matter how hard you tried.

“Shhh, you’re okay.” You grunted in pain when a hand clamped down on the wrist you were trying to swat him away with.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” You’re head snapped up at the voice you never thought you’d be glad to hear. 

“Look, it’s fine, I’m a deputy and she’s drunk. I’m just going to get her home.” You’re eyes must have said something you’re mouth couldn’t because suddenly there were no longer hands on you and Derek was in between you and Clemens.

“I think you’re going to get the hell away from her before I call the sheriff and tell him one of his deputies was trying to kidnap a 16 year old.” 

Somehow, your brain finally was able to put together something.

“17.” Judging by Derek’s glare, those words were not helpful. 

“Look, Hale.. I’m not gonna leave my boss’s god daughter in the hands of a 22 year old murderer.” Derek snorted, it did not sound amusing, but you were focusing on trying to calm down because you felt the world tilt on its axis causing you to stumble into a wall of werewolf.

“I’ve been cleared of all charges.” You really didn’t know what was happening, but something told you this was no longer about you.

“We both know you’re not the innocent one here.” You took a deep breath, and finally stood up straight and grabbed onto Derek’s arm instead of his back.

“Derek take me home. Please.” You felt him squeeze your hand, and you couldn’t help but burrow your head in between his shoulder blades because something was not right and you were starting to freak out.

You’ve been drunk before. You’ve been so drunk you couldn’t stand, but this was not drunk. This was something else entirely. 

“We’re leaving.” Derek didn’t make it sound like an option, instead Clemens just glared but made no move to stop you both.

Derek had his arm around your waist and was practically carrying you through the woods. You didn’t know how long you were walking, because you felt your eyes becoming heavier, your ears were catching sounds slower, and your feet felt like jello.

But not the good kind of jello, like cherry or strawberry, but grape. No one likes grape jello. Grape jello is the equivalent of death.

You felt like grape jello.

“Come on Y/N, stay with me.” Your body was being lifted, and it forced you to open your eyes for the first time in what felt like 10 years. You were being placed in a car.

“S’thin’.. ‘ong…” You’re mouth wasn’t working like it was supposed to, so you had no idea if Derek even understood what you were saying. 

“You’ve been injected with something, but you’ll be okay.” 

Injected? How? Why? Those were the questions you were trying to ask but it came out as gibberish even to your ears and you felt a sting of panic and then anger because you couldn’t form a coherent sentence.

“It won’t last long.. Okay.. just try to relax.. The more you fight the longer it will stay in your system.” Derek’s voice was soft, almost apologetic, and really? How is he blaming himself for this?

“No’ y ‘ aul.” You tried to pat his head but missed and caught the door. Stupid coordination was gone too.

“Close your eyes, relax, I got you.” You’re brain was hyper aware that nothing was okay but as soon as Derek’s reassuring words registered you felt your eyes close with ease this time and your head finally caught up to the program and realized you were safe.

\----

“Y/N?” Your name sounded like it was being called from a cave, because all you could see is blackness no matter how many times you blinked. “Hey, it’s okay, it’s just dark out.” 

Suddenly there was a blurry blue light seeping through the shadows of your vision, helping to bring you back in the land of consciousness. 

“What… happened….” You’re mouth felt like sandpaper as the words coming out of your mouth started to finally make sense again.

“Someone at the party injected you with a drug… it’s usually mixed with wolfsbane for werewolves. It’s to get the wolf away from the pack without making too much noise. Like a fast acting but short term roofie.” You’re eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness, and you felt yourself nodding along dumbly. “Here, drink this.”

You stared at the blue Gatorade bottle for too long since Derek reached for your hands and placed the bottle in them. You were trying to remember what happened, but everything was fuzzy. All you remembered was talking to Stiles and then fighting with him.

“Stiles.. Oh my god, what time is it? Him and Scott are probably freaking out.” You started to move but it was still sluggish movements, your body felt like it was coming out of deep hibernation.

“I texted Scott and told him what happened… he wasn’t happy I wouldn’t tell him where you were, neither was your boyfriend.” Derek seemed grumpier than usual as he sat in the driver's seat of his Camaro, watching you carefully. 

“Boyfriend? I don’t have a boyfriend.” You rolled your head and shoulders before picking up the Gatorade bottle and taking a huge drink of it.

“Really… you and Stiles smell like each other. A lot like each other.” You snorted, rolling your eyes at the assumption. 

“Stiles is my person.” You said it like that was supposed to explain, and judging by Derek’s complicated eyebrows, he didn’t understand. “Yano.. the person you trust more than anymore, the one you’d want by your side during the zombie apocalypse or to help you bury a dead body. You’re person.”

Derek’s eyebrows came into an angry from but smoothed away into a look you hadn’t seen on him before. It was almost mournful.

“Laura…” The name sounded like it was carved out of him, and you didn’t know what else to do beside sit there and stare at him until he was ready to talk again. “Laura was my person.”

“I’m so sorry Derek.” You reached for his arm but it was jerked away from you, as if touching you would make him catch Ebola. In a flash the openness on Derek’s face was gone, replaced by the hard mask you were accustomed to.

“It doesn’t matter.” He turned the car on, and you frowned at him but eventually put your seat belt on as he pulled out of the well hidden path in the preserve. 

It was quiet in the car as he drove. Every time you wanted to say something, it died on your tongue. Sorry wasn’t good enough, you knew that. Sorry didn’t fix anything. Derek seemed to grow annoyed by your thoughts since he shoved your phone in your hands.

“Call the wonder twins and let them know I haven’t eaten you.” You sat shell shocked at the fact Derek made a joke. The very real possibility of being eaten aside, it was amazing. 

You hit the emergency speed dial which was Stiles, and waited not even a full second before your bestfriends angry voice was on the other line.

“Derek?! So help me god if you hurt one hair on Y/N’s head I will personally shove wolfsbane so far up your as---”

“Stiles! Damn.. chill. I’m okay.” You heard the loud exhale on the phone, and you couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Are you though?” You looked at Derek who was trying to pretend he was focused solely on the road, but you knew he was listening.

“Derek saved my life.. I don’t want to know what would have happened if he hadn’t been there.” You refused to look anywhere but at Derek, just as he refused to look right at you.

“Me either…” The phone call become more melancholy as the time passed and no one spoke but you could Stiles even breathing on the line and that was good enough.

“I’m sorr--”

“Don’t.” You snapped your mouth shut with an audible click, earning you a half concerned half annoyed glance from Derek. “Just… just come home.” All you could do was nod as you heard the click of the ended call.

You drove in silence for the rest of the way to your house, which you don’t remember telling Derek how to get there. 

“How do you know where you’re going?” He at least had the decency to look ashamed for his lurking. It was progress. 

When you realized Derek was not going to own up to his creepy stalking, you just sighed and laid your head back in the seat. It was still swimming, but it wasn’t unbearable anymore. It was like having the worst hangover in the word, without enjoying getting super drunk part first.

“You’re head okay?” You jumped slightly at the sound of Derek’s voice.

“It’s still… fuzzy. I remember being mad at Stiles and getting another drink, and the bonfire but after that..” You glanced at Derek, refusing to look away until he told you what happened. 

It didn’t take long for him to break.

“Deputy Clemens was trying to get you away from the bonfire and you kept mumbling something about eyes and saying no.” You noticed Derek’s hands tightening on the wheel, but you were afraid if you reached over it would just make it worse.

“That.. doesn’t make sense. I like Clemens… why wouldn’t I want to go with him?” You frowned into your hands, clenching and unclenching them in anger. You tried so hard to remember but nothing was coming back.

“Even if you weren’t fighting him off, there was no way in hell I was going to let him take you.” Derek’s words came out surprisingly growly and you just glared.

“Why? He’s a deputy he would have kept me safe too.” 

“Not the way he smelled, he wouldn’t.” Derek snapped causing you’re glare to falter.

“Smell? What do you mean smell?” 

“He was practically dragging an unconscious 16 year old away from her friends, dripping with arousal, that’s what I meant.” You were pretty sure the steering wheel was fixing to snap under Derek’s white knuckled grip, so you threw caution to the wind and reached over and grabbed his hand.

“For the millionth time, I’m 17. And Clemens wouldn’t.. He wouldn’t do that okay? I must have just been freaking out over the drugs.” Derek’s grip left the steering wheel long enough to push your hands away, and laugh.

“You don’t know what it smelt like, it was the same smell coming from that hunter. It was like they had finally found their prey.” His voice was bitter and hard, it through you for a loop for moment but then his words registered in your brain.

“Fuck you.. I’m not some weak little girl Derek. I’m no one’s prey.” You spat, crossing your arms over your chest and glaring out the window.

“Yeah? It sure looked like you were before I had to swoop in and save you. Again.” 

“Stop the car.” You were past yelling, you felt your blood turn to ice and your whole body was rigid from the cold.

“What? It’s like two blocks from where you live. I’m not stop--”

“Stop the car or I will open the door and jump out myself.” You had your hands on the door handle, fixing to pull it open when the car slammed to a stop. 

You didn’t wait and threw the door open in a hurry, ignoring Derek’s voice calling your name. You made it around the corner before you heard footsteps coming up behind you, and judging by the angry stomp you knew exactly who they belonged to.

“What the fuck is your problem, do you have some sort of death wish?” You were pulled to a stop by Derek’s werewolf grip on your arm, but you didn’t try to pull away. 

Instead you stood unbelievably still. And quiet. It was enough for Derek to slowly ease the pressure on your arm and put his murder brows away.

“Are you done?” You asked calmly, staring at his face without any emotion.

“I-- uh. Y--yeah.” He finished lamely, removing his hand away from you entirely.

“No wonder Scott won’t trust you. You’d rather have everyone hate you, it must be easier than dealing with anyone getting close.” Derek’s eyebrows did their complicated moves as he went through more emotions then you knew he was capable of before settling back on angry.

“You don’t know anything about me.” His eyes flashed blue, but you just shook your head.

“Whose fault is that?” His eyes slowly faded back to their normal green as you both stood under the streetlamp on Cascade avenue.

“Whatever.. Try not to get kidnapped on your way home, or eaten.” With that he turned around and stalked back the way you came. 

You heard the unmistakable sound of the Camaro turning on and peeling away before you let out a shaky breath. You looked up at the street lamp as it started to flicker slowly, before turning around and walking toward your house. 

It didn’t take long, and the quiet of the night was nice even though your head was still churning with every sharp motion. You turned onto your street in less than 15 minutes, but when you noticed the porch light on and a familiar shape on the front steps you slowed down.

Stiles obviously heard your footsteps because he was off the porch and in your arms in less than a minute. It was quite impressive.

“Dude, I’m okay. You act like you haven’t seen me in 10 years.” Stiles’s wet laugh made you feel worse than you already did. 

“I am so sorry.” He rushed out his hands coming up to cup your cheek and look at you properly. “I-- I know I shouldn’t have brought that up, we promised never too again, and Scott told me you just needed a minute so I didn’t follow you and--”

“Stiles this isn’t your fault, it’s mine okay?” You patting his hand sympathetically, but you could still see the water marks down his face. “I shouldn’t have even started drinking like that, after the last time Morrell told me that it was a bad idea because of how angry I am.” The last part came out more bitter than you intended but it earned a small chuckle from Stiles so it was worth it.

“Morrell huh? I thought we were never supposed to speak of her again either.” You made a face at Stiles, shoving him slightly before pursuing your lips. 

“Maybe.. Maybe I should go back. With everything that’s happened lately.” Stiles let the silence hang, opting to just steer you in the direction of his house.

“Whatever you want.” He whispered, pulling you in close as you climbed the stairs and made it into the house. 

“For now.. That’s sleep and to forget this day ever happened.” Stiles made a noise that suggest he firmly agreed with those plans and that’s all you could really ask for at the moment.

\----

“It’s been awhile since we’ve last seen each other.” You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at Morrell Monday morning, which in turn earned you her patent I-know-everything-about-everything stare that set the tiny hairs on your neck straight up.

“Yeah, well… I don’t like you.” You gave her a sarcastic grin which she still stared at.

“I thought we were past you trying to get a rise out of me to avoid talking.” 

There it was. It was supremely creepy how she seemed to read people. Logically, her being a school guidance counselor, she is good at it. The diplomas hanging from Stanford proved it. It was still creepy regardless. Maybe she was a werewolf too. They had a habit of being creepy.

“Well, I take it you have something you want to talk about since you barged in here after last semester when you swore you weren’t ever coming back.” You gnawed on your bottom lip, eyes flicking between Morrell and the door.

You wished you were talking with Stiles about Scott’s super real dream he was freaking out about instead of in here talking to her.

“I drank again last night.” You waited for Morrell to give you a disapproving frown, but it never came. It never does with her. She seems to work more on giving you space to be disappointed in yourself which is much worse.

“And?”

“And I got in a fight with Stiles over something that shouldn’t have been a big deal.” And got drugged by a hunter and could have been kidnapped and tortured because your best friend is a freaking werewolf.

She didn't need to know that though.

“Why do you think you got angry with Stiles when he was only trying to help?” 

That was why she was creepy. How did she even know that? 

“Because he brought up the last time I drank.” You muttered petulantly, tugging your bag closer to you.

“A month after you’re parents crash.” You still flinched at the term being said so casually.

“Got it in one.” 

“Where you got alcohol poisoning and almost died as well.” You took a deep breath, closing your eyes and counting to five before you opened them again.

“It was stupid but--”

“But it made you feel better.” She summarized and you just nodded. “Did you feel better after drinking last night?”

You thought about it, and it didn’t. You were never one to handle change well after your parents died and now your whole world has been flipped upside down again and you just wanted to feel in control of something for once. 

“It.. something happened and I thought it would give me some control and it didn’t.. Instead I needed saving. Again.” You let out a shaky breath, feeling your hands getting sweaty. “I feel like I always need saving lately. Like I’m some kind of..” 

The word Derek said was the first thing to pop in your mind but your mouth couldn’t get it to form.

“Like prey?” You stared at her, narrowing your eyes while she just looked like she always did. 

Calm. Cool. Collected.

“I’m not prey.” Saying it again didn’t make it any more true than when you said it to Derek.

“Then what are you?” 

You’re mind was coming up with one worded responses but none of them seemed right. You were brought out of your thoughts as the first bell rang, signally the start of the school day. 

“I’ll give you one word but when we meet tomorrow I want you to give me one too okay?” You just nodded an answer, standing up from the chair and gathering your purse from the floor. 

“Well, what is it?” You asked impatiently, one hand on the door as you looked back at Morell.

“Alive.” You froze, mouth parted open to say something but nothing came out. “You’re parent’s might not be, but you are. Stiles, Scott, and the sheriff are too. That’s enough.” 

You couldn’t do more than nod your head and make a b-line for first period, but in your haste you ran right into Allison with a thud.

“Y/N are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” You gaped at her like a fish, but her hands were kind and warm as they steadied you on your feet.

“Ah--um--fine. I am fiiiiiiiiiine. H-how are you?” She gave you an adorable frown the same one Scott gives when he doesn’t believe a word you say.

“Good..” She didn’t sound good, she sounded concerned which any other time would be touching but now it made your head hurt. 

“Great, that’s great we’re both great. English?” You gave her an over enthusiastic smile and connected your arm with hers and practically dragged her into the English class.

You made it in just as the bell was fixing to ring, abandoning Allison in her seat in front of Scott and taking yours like a nascar driving, almost knocking over Greenberg's desk with yours. 

Greenberg didn’t seem to notice as it looked like he was watching imaginary butterflies floating around his head, but Scott and Stiles sure did.

Just as you were about to give them some sort of lame excuse the intercom came on and the principal’s voice was coming through the speakers.

“Attention, students, this is your principal. I know you're all wondering about the incident that occurred last night to one of our buses. While the police work to determine what happened, classes will proceed as scheduled.” The whole class groaned in annoyance as you shot Stiles a look that he responded with making imaginary fangs and growling.

“Alright, you heard the man, get your books out and turn to page 219.” You stared between Stiles and Scott, who naturally, was too busy making goo goo eyes at Allison to notice. 

Morell’s words were suddenly unimportant, because what was, was the fact something happened and there was now a new werewolf problem to solve.

\---

“And I was sweating Iike crazy, and I couldn't breathe. I've never had a dream where I woke up Iike that before.” Scott said, recounting later what he told Stiles about his dream of Allison, the bus, and him attacking her.

“Really? I have. Usually ends a Iittle differently.” You gave him a ridiculous eyebrow wiggle which earned a fake gaging noise from Stiles.

“A, I meant I've never had a dream that felt that real, and B, never give me that much detail about you in bed again.” 

“Noted.” You gave your best friends a smile before turning to look down the hall at Allison and Lydia talking with Jackson and Danny.

“Let me take a guess here--” You started but was interrupted by Scott.

“No, I know, you think it has something to do with me going out with AIIison tomorrow.” Scott signed against the locker as you shut yours.

“Maybe, or maybe this has absolutely nothing to do with you and everything to do with Derek.” You rolled your eyes at Stiles, hard, before turning and walking into chemistry class.

“Derek wouldn’t go and slash up some innocent person, especially with hunters in town.” Stiles and Scott’s simultaneous eye roll said it all. 

Even after Derek saved your life, they were still on the side of Derek equals bad.

“So your saying I did it?” You didn’t have an answer so you remained silent as you took your seat next to Danny.

It took a total of ten minutes into class before it was brought back up again.

“M-maybe it was my blood on the door.” Scott said, and you sighed. You weren’t going to get him to let this go.

“Could have been animal blood.” You whispered, turning around to stare at your best friends.

“Yeah, maybe you caught a rabbit or something.” Stiles smiled as he slapped Scott on the shoulder with pride.

“And did what?” 

“Ate it.”

“Raw?” Scott’s horrified expression was well worth the whole conversation.

“No, you stopped to bake it in a Iittle werewolf oven.” You snorted a laugh at that which Scott glared at you both.

“Mr. Stilinski, Mr. McCall, and Miss Y/L/N if that's your idea of hushed whispers, you all might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while.” You turned back around and glared at Harris but it had no effect.

“I think you and Mr. McCall would benefit from a Iittle distance from your girlfriend, yes?” 

“No.” Stiles sighed but gathered his bags and went and sat by Greenberg in the opposite corner while Scott went and sat up front by Brianne.

“Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much.” Harris was such a dick.

The class just settled back down, but before Harris could pick back up his lecture Brianne jumped out of her seat and went to the window.

“Hey, I think they found something.” You got up from your seat and looked out the window next to Scott and Stiles as a gurney was being pushed toward an ambulance.

“That's not a rabbit.” You whispered, watching as the man on the gurney screamed causing everyone watching to jump in surprise.

“Okay. This is good, this is good. He got up, he's not dead. Dead guys can't do that.” Stiles whispered as he tried to get Scott to breathe so he didn’t accidently wolf out.

“Stiles I did that.” Scott sounded so defeated and you couldn’t do anything but squeeze his arm before Harris ordered everyone back in their seats.

\----

"Dreams aren't memories." You said as you sat down at the lunch table.

"Then it wasn't a dream. Something happened Iast night, and I can't remember what." Scott was still in a mood, sagging behind you and Stiles.

"What makes you so sure that Derek even has all the answers?" Stiles asked while taking his normal spot in front of you.

"Because during the full moon he wasn't changed. He was in total control while I was running around in the middle of the night attacking some totally innocent guy."

"You don't know that." You snapped, staring at Scott with as much conviction as possible. You knew there was a possibility Scott truly did, but you couldn't think about that right now.

"I don't not know it. I can't go out with AIIison. I have to cancel." You were about to open your mouth when Stiles slapped Scott's shoulder.

"No, you're not canceling, okay? You can't just cancel your entire Iife. We'II figure it out--"

"Figure what out?" Lydia asked, coming to sit one spot over from Scott. 

"Just, uh, homework." Scott mumbled since you and Stiles were too shocked that her highness was sitting at the same table as you.

“Yeah... Why is she sitting with us?” You hissed at Scott who just gave you an apologetic smile as he moved his stuff for Allison to sit next to him.

“Thanks.” Allison’s dimples were on full display, making Scott go all heart eyes but you were to busy glaring at Lydia for them to work on you.

Stiles hit your shin under the table, causing your glare to move from Lydia to him just as Danny sat down beside you with some guy on the lacrosse team on his other side. 

Daniel? Damon? You couldn’t bother to remember because you were currently sending your death glare to Scott because he was the cause of the sudden interlopers coming to your table.

Except Danny. Danny could always stay.

“Get up.” Jackson said to what's his name, which great, if Lydia wasn’t bad enough now Jackson has invaded your table.

“How come you never ask Danny to get up?” You’re just going to call him Bob-- since you have no earthly idea what his name really was-- asks.

“Because I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot.” Danny smiled to Bob causing you to snort a laugh and Stiles to lower his eyes to the table. 

Predictably, Bob got up and stormed off somewhere so you went back to glaring at Scott who was too busy to notice, but Allison did and she gave you a pleading look that may or may not have broke you.

You quit glaring.

Barely.

“So I hear they're saying it's some type of animal attack. Probably a cougar.” Danny said, nudging your shoulder to try and get you to join the conversation.

“I heard mountain Iion.” Jackson said, narrowing his eyes at you, then Stiles, before rolling them and picking up an apple from his try and taking a bite.

“A cougar is a mountain Iion..” You raised your eyebrow at Lydia, the same as Danny and Jackson, and she finished off with a lame, “Isn't it?” 

Stiles told you how smart Lydia really was and you had no idea why someone would try and hide it just for the sake of a guy who probably doesn’t know the difference from his head and own ass.

“Who cares? The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyway.” Jackson shrugged his shoulder and just as you were about to say something Stiles spoke up, holding his phone in the center of the table.

“Actually, I just found out who it is. Check it out.” You leaned over to see Noah on the camera around the bus as a male reporter started speaking.

“The Sheriff's Department won't speculate on details of the incident but confirmed the victim, Garrison Meyers, did survive the attack.” There was a picture of the victim then, an older man with graying hair. “Meyers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition.”

“I know this guy.” Scott said, sitting back in his chair with a thump.

“You do?” Allison asked, putting her hand on his shoulder for comfort. 

“Yeah, when I used to take the bus back when I Iived with my dad. He was the driver.” You connected eyes with Stiles who shut the phone off before giving Scott a look that hopefully convey it was going to be okay.

“Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please? Like, oh, where are we going tomorrow night?” Lydia turned to Allison who was looking like a deer caught in headlights. “...You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow night, right?”

You watched Scott turn to Allison with a frown, one that she mimicked right away.

“Um, we were thinking of what we were gonna do…”

“Well, I am not sitting home again watching Iacrosse videos, so if the four of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun.” Lydia stated, tossing her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder.

“Hanging out? Like, the four of us?” Allison just picked up her water bottle as you and Stiles watched the awkward interaction with Scott. “Do you wanna hang out, Iike us and them?” He mumbled, earning you a wince of sympathy.

“Yeah, I guess. Sounds fun?” Stiles looked like he was about to say something but you just grabbed his hand and squeezed hard enough for him to give you a dirty look.

“You know what else sounds fun? Stabbing myself in the face with this fork.” Jackson said sarcastically, making you roll your eyes and lean over to take the fork out of Jackson’s hand and smack him with it.

“How about bowling? You Iove to bowl.” Lydia smiled, grabbing Jackson’s arm affectionately and you snorted a laugh causing her to finally give up her ignoring you and give you a glare in return.

Finally, all is normal with the world.

Except for werewolves. And hunters.

“Yeah, with actual competition.” Jackson muttered, tearing off a piece of bread and eating it while making the biggest of bitch faces at Scott.

“How do you know we're not actual competition?” Allison smirked, which oh no. This would not end well. “You can bowl, right?” No, no Scott can not bowl.

“Sort of.” You kicked Scott under the table for the blatant lie but he ignored you and Stiles' laughter.

“Is it sort of, or yes McCall?” Jackson asked, his smile turning smarmy as he leaned over the table to look at the couple.

“Yes. In fact, I'm a great bowler.” Scott said, and you only managed to cover up a strangled laugh by the skin of your teeth.

“You're a terrible bowler.” Stiles said as you all were leaving the cafeteria and Scott just sighed.

“I know! I'm such an idiot.” He whined while you patted his back for comfort.

“God, it was Iike watching a car wreck.” Stiles said, ignoring the fact that Scott was upset. “I mean, first it turned into the whole group date thing. And then out of nowhere comes that phrase.”

“Hanging out.” Scott muttered, and you just hit Stiles so he would shut up. 

It didn’t work.

“You don't hang out with hot girls, okay? It's Iike death. Once it's hanging out, you might as well be her gay best friend. You and Danny can start hanging out.” You were about to correct Stiles' hugely ignorant way of thinking but Scott’s puppy dog pout as you walked just made you be quiet.

“How is this happening? I either killed a guy or I didn't.” 

“You didn’t.” You said vehemently, trying to leave no room for arguing.

“I don't think Danny Iikes me very much.” Stiles muttered, and you gave him a no-shit-look before turning your attention to the big problem.

“I ask AIIison on a date, and now we're hanging out.” Scott moaned, tugging at his hair in frustration.

“Am I not attractive to gay guys?” Stiles asked out loud, which made you pause because what the hell. 

“I make first Iine, and the team captain wants to destroy me, and now -Now I'm gonna be Iate for work.” Scott groaned, rushing out the school doors for his free period, leaving you and Stiles behind.

“Wait, Scott, you didn't.. Am I attractive to gay guy--You didn't answer my question…” Stiles trailed off as you came to a stop beside him.

“Uhhh… do you.. Want for gay guys to be attracted to you?” You grabbed his arm, holding it tightly as he just looked at you as if you’re crazy.

“What? No-- no I was kidding… maybe. I don’t-- I don’t know.. No. No I don’t.” He mumbled, shrugging your hand off before turning back around and heading to class.

“Huh.”

This explained a lot.

“Wait, Stiles-- wait up!” You yelled, running to catch up with him before he could escape into Math class. “You know if you wanted gay guys to be attracted to you, I would totally and 100% be okay with that and be the best wing woman right?”

Stiles kind of gaped at you, and you felt a sudden sinking feeling in your stomach that only Stiles could give you. 

“I-- I’m not saying I do.. But I mean.. If I did..”

“Then I would still love you just as much as I do now.” You finished for him and watching him let out a shaky breath heart your heart more than it should. “You didn’t think I would have a problem with it.. Did you?”

“What no!” He shoved you lightly, causing you to smile. “I just.. I don’t know what I was thinking. But I-- I still like girls.. I just think…”

“Dick could be good too, I get it, and agree with you wholeheartedly.” Stiles gave you a half heated glare before pulling you into a bone crushing hug.

“I love you Y/N.” You returned the hug with just as much fever.

“I love you too loser, now let go of me before people start to think we’re dating. I can’t get you laid if that happens, and now I have a whole other sex to work with.” He huffed a laugh, and you watched as he wiped his eyes with his flannel quickly. 

“Whatever.” He mumbled, knocking your shoulder before he went in to his math class and you walked out into the swimming area.

You noticed not one other person was there, which was a relief. You usually spend your free period in the library catching up on homework, especially after the past two weeks, but you missed the water.

You changed quickly into your swim uniform and took a running dive into the water. The feel of being under is the most unique thing in the world. There isn’t anything like it, and it’s something about the motion of it that becomes natural after a while. 

You know you always need the air to breathe but when you’re under water it feels just like breathing. You quickly lost yourself in laps, feeling the water through your fingers with each stroke and breath.

You weren’t tired, not even close, but you pulled yourself out of the water because if you didn’t, you knew you would be late for your next class. 

“Wow, wolf girl… you got skills.” You froze as your hand reached your towel, cursing under your breath before turning around to see the hunter on the bleachers watching you like a cat watches a mouse.

Prey.

“You do know this is a high school right? You graduated, what, like 2 years ago?” You asked, crossing your arms over your chest as you watched the guy stand and take the steps one at a time. 

“3.” He corrected, giving you a smile that would make any other girl swoon.

“Thanks for making my point for me, what the hell do you want?” He was stalking down the bleachers, eyes never leaving yours as he made his way next to the pool.

You didn’t make a move, only held the towel tighter in your hands but the hunter didn’t step close to you. Instead he just stood at the water, looking at it as if it held all the answers.

“Well.” You snapped, unable to stay quiet any longer as his silence was setting you on edge even more.

“I just want you to know, we’re watching..” He said, eyes light with mirth as he finally looked over to you.

You were over this. You were done being the scared little girl in this scenario. You dropped the towel you were holding and stalked over to the hunter, placing yourself right within his reach. “I’m here. You want to kill me? Do it.” 

The hunter didn’t make a move toward you, just smiled. You were sick of it.

You pushed the man hard enough for him to stumble back, surprise written all over his face at the fact that you touched him.

“Well, do it. Come on-- Kill me!” You held your hands out, offering him a free shot and he just laughed.

“You are something else wolf girl.” His eyes were positively shining but you were livid. 

You grabbed your towel from the floor, swung it over your shoulder before coming to stand in front of the man again.

“No more empty threats. You and your merry band of psychopaths can fuck right out of this town because my wolves are off limits. They follow the code.” His eyes went a little wide at that, but quickly went back to the smug look as before.

“Oh really now? Because the man in the hospital might not agree.” Before you could deny any part in that he spoke again. “you’d rather stand with them than with your own kind?” He asked, open and honest for the first time since you met him.

“I stand with those who don’t burn a house down with innocent people inside.” The guy just smiled, before leaning into your space. 

You couldn’t help it, your breath caught in your throat as you spine stiffened from having him so close.

“There’s no such thing as innocent werewolves.. They’re all monsters.” His breath was warm against your ear and you wanted nothing more than to push him away, but you didn’t.

“Murderers, Serial killers, rapists.. Humans can be monsters too.” The words came tumbling out in riotous fury as the hunter pulled back with a roll of his eyes.

You stood there, staring with this man who could probably kill you in less than a second, and felt pity. Ignorance is taught, people weren’t born with the kind of hatred this guy has, and you couldn’t help wonder where he learned it.

Maybe he wouldn’t be here if the Argents hadn’t gotten their hooks in him.

You didn’t have time to dwell on the hunters soul as the bell rang, signally the last class of the day.

“Run along wolf girl.. Wouldn’t want to be late.” You didn’t worry about turning your back on the hunter, because you knew he wouldn’t hurt you. 

This was the game. Intimidation. They wanted you to know they could get to you whenever they wanted and you were done giving them the satisfaction of acting like the hunters they were, because you weren’t their prey. 

\----

You barely made it through your last class, and you blew off swim practice with the excuse of practicing during free period. You quickly made your way to your car, trying to avoid Stiles.

Thankfully you made it without being spotted, and since Stiles thought you were at practice you had enough time to do something stupid. Which is why you found yourself at the Hale house. 

Again.

“Marco!” You yelled, leaning against the hood of your car, waiting for Derek to show up. 

Not even three minutes past when the front door opened and an angry looking Derek made his way onto the burnt porch. 

“What do you want now?” Derek’s bitch face had no rival. Seriously, it was way worse than Jackson’s.

“That hunter showed up today.. On the bleachers in the aquatic center.. Watching me do laps.” Now Derek looked angry on your behalf, instead of at you directly.

Progress.

“So?” Maybe not progress.

“So what are we going to do about them?” Derek just gave you an incredulous look before jumping off the porch and strolling toward you.

“There is no ‘we’.. Stay out of the hunters way Y/N.” He growled, which you ignored.

“You act like I wear a neon sign that says ‘welcome all hunters’ above my head.. News flash, I didn’t ask for this to happen. I didn’t ask for Scott to be bitten and I sure as hell didn’t ask to be stuck relying on you, of all people, but here we are.” Derek’s face faltered for a millisecond before putting up it’s familiar blank expression.

“And I didn’t ask for an annoying kid as a beta with his equally annoying friends.” 

“Do we have to do this?” You asked, crossing your arms over your chest as you made yourself comfy against your car.

“What?”

“Where we pretend to hate each other. Look, I don’t hate you … I think you have severe emotional and anger issues and could stand to smile at least once before your grumpy face can no longer make the movements, but I don’t hate you. And I know you don’t hate me because if you did you wouldn’t have saved me from the party.. So can we call this a truce and figure out what the hell is going on in Beacon Hills before someone else gets seriously hurt.” Derek was silent for a moment, and you honestly thought he was going to wolf out and eat you but he just let out a low groan as he rubbed his temples.

“You are the most stubborn human I’ve ever met in my entire life.” 

You gave Derek a huge smile, which he returned with his classic bitch face. “Aw, thank you.”

“It wasn’t a compliment.” He snapped, turning back to the house as you pushed off the car to follow him.

“That’s all about perception.” You skipped to catch up with him, but before you could enter the house he stopped causing you to run into his back. “What? Do you hear something?” You whispered, turning to look at the trees but seeing nothing.

You were about to say ask what was wrong but before you could Derek grabbed your arm and dragged you the last couple of feet to the door and shut it. 

“Keep quiet.” He hissed, eyes shining bright blue to convey how serious he was. 

You just made a zipping motion over your mouth which didn't earn a patent eye roll. Now you knew this was serious. You stuck close to Derek’s back as he walked up the stairs, stepping where he did so you wouldn’t fall through the floor. 

You couldn’t remember ever being upstairs in the Hale house when Laura was babysitting. It was usually at your house or the park. You have some memories of sitting in the Hale kitchen, eating grilled cheese with Cora, Derek’s younger sister, but that was it. 

The house was just as charred, if not more, up stairs. The broken frames littered the walls, no longer filled with happy memories. You almost lost Derek as you were taking a look around, careful not to touch anything after last time. 

“Derek?” You’re voice was barely above a whisper, knowing he could hear you. 

You were about to turn around and go back down stairs when a hand came over your mouth. The scream died in your throat, because you could see the faint glowing blue in the broken mirror on the wall. Derek released you, putting a finger over his lips as to remain silent which you agreed.

You walked with him into one of the rooms that faced the front of the house to see a police cruiser in the driveway, and not just an ordinary deputy walking around, it was Clemens.

“What is he doing here?” You mumbled, noticing how he was stalking around your car, looking for something.

“Looking for you.” Derek growled, eyes connecting with yours as if to ask what you did.

“I don’t know why he’s looking for me.. Maybe to apologize about the party Saturday.” You grumbled, squeezing into Derek’s space so you could look out better.

“Or maybe he’s been following you, trying to catch you alone.” Derek snapped, which earned him a stomp on the foot from your tennis shoes. 

“Maybe he’s following you and me being here is just a coincidence.” You hissed, before pulling out your phone and dialing the sheriff’s department.

“What are you doing?!” Derek’s voice went up an octave as his hands reached across you to grab your phone, but a well placed elbow to his ribs caught him off guard.

“Beacon County sheriff’s department, this is Tara, how can I help you.” You scooted away from Derek, placing a hand on his chest so he couldn’t try and grab the phone again.

You coughed slightly before pitching your voice higher than normal. “Hey, I’d like to report a strange noise coming from the south end of the preserve. It sounds like a wild animal is attacking something. I saw some hikers on the way in and I’m worried can you please send someone to look into it.” 

“We’ll send someone right away can I just get your nam--” You hung up quickly, ignoring Derek’s murder brows and shuffling back over to the window. 

Clemens was almost to the front porch when you heard the familiar static of a radio and Tara’s voice was coming in asking for the closest cruiser to go to the south end of the preserve. For a moment, you thought Clemens might ignore the call, but eventually he radioed back and said he was on his way. 

You watched as the cruiser finally disappeared from the front yard, and you gave Derek a victorious smile but he was too busy growling. 

“What? He’s gone.” You shrugged, but Derek just shook his head.

“And now there’s a bigger problem outside.” He sighed heavily but turned around to leave the room and you. 

You didn’t waste any time as you scrambled down the stairs after him but when you passed the window you noticed who the bigger problem was. Scott.

\----

Derek was tired. Tired of trying to keep the annoying human girl alive. Tired of trying to keep the annoying new werewolf from killing anyone. And tired of feeling like he was one wrong move away from being killed by the alpha that has decided to destroy what little bit in his life that was still good.

“I know you can hear me. I need your help.” Scott’s voice was plenty loud enough for him to hear and judging by the frown Y/N was wearing she heard him too. 

“Okay.” He said normally, giving the girl who was a giant pain in his ass a look that he hoped read stay-here-and-out-of-sight.

The I'm-not-an-idiot look she sent back had him glaring even more. Derek quickly opened the front door and closed it behind him, hoping the new wolf wouldn’t recognize a second heartbeat.

“Why is Y/N here?” Was the first thing out of Scott’s mouth, and he could hear the uptick of panic in her heartbeat from inside.

“She’s not, she came by earlier but when I got here she was gone through the woods, probably on a run.” He shrugged, hoping Scott wouldn’t catch him lying because the last thing he needs is Scott and Stiles bugging him about Y/N.

Y/N bugs him enough for the two of them.

“Okay.. look I know I was part of you getting arrested and that we basically announced you being here to the hunters. I also don't know what happened to your sister. But I think I did something Iast night. I had a dream about someone. But someone else got hurt. And it turns out that part of the dream might have actually happened.” Scott’s voice was rigid, his scent was all over the place but Derek ignored it.

“You think you attacked the driver?” He asked, and he could sense Y/N’s heartbeat at the back of his mind as it continued it’s uptick in panic. She was worried for Scott.

“Did you see what I did Iast night?” Scott snapped, running his hands through his shaggy hair before looking at Derek.

“No.” 

“Can you at Ieast tell me the truth? Am I gonna hurt someone?” Scott was grasping at straws, and maybe, if Derek was any other person he would try and make the young boy feel better, but he wasn’t. 

“Yes.”

“Could I kill someone?”

“Yes.”

“Am I gonna kill someone?”

“Probably…” Y/N’s heartbeat skyrocketed and his wolf growled menacingly. It almost caught him off guard. Derek looked back toward the window, before sighing. “Look, I can show you how to remember. I can show you how to control the shift, even on a full moon... But it's not gonna come for free.”

“What do you want?” Scott sounded so young, it almost made Derek re-think everything he was doing, but he was trying to stay alive and keep everyone else alive too. He couldn’t coddle this kid.

“You'II find out. But for now, I'm gonna give you what you want. Go back to the bus. Go inside. See it, feel it. Let your senses, your sight, smell, touch. Let them remember for you.”

“That's it? Just go back?” Scott rolled his eyes, anger rolling off him in waves, enough to drown Derek’s senses.

“Do you want to know what happened?” He just raised an eyebrow, waiting for Scott to realize he was trying to help.

“I just want to know if I hurt him.” 

“No, you don't. You want to know if you'II hurt her.” He said, watching Scott scoff and walk away, mumbling under his breath.

Derek waited until he could no longer hear the other werewolf, before turning toward the door and motioning for Y/N to come out.

“Well that went surprisingly well.” She said, jumping down from the porch instead of using the steps.

“That’s what you consider well?”

“You didn’t maul his face off and actually answered his questions.. I consider that a win.” She said, shrugging her shoulders before fixing him with the look that makes his wolf whine. “Although, you could have been nicer about it.”

“I was being honest.. He’s a werewolf. A predator. He can kill someone with his bare hands.. He needs to know that.” Derek huffed, hugging his jacket tighter around him and turning his back on the girl.

“Yeah, and he also needs to know someone will keep him from doing that. Someone like you, Derek.” The way she says his name was enough to make his skin crawl. It was the same way Laura said it, with such trust and conviction.

“What do you think I’m doing? I’m trying to keep the hunters from finding out about him and trying to find out who the alpha is.” He growled, turning around to snarl at her but her heartbeat remained the same.

He no longer scared her. His wolf preened obnoxiously at the girl, already feeling some sort of kindred spirit thing with her he’s never once felt with anyone else which terrified him to his core because this girl was young. Not just in looks, but in heart. She had so much riotous fury when she found out about the hunters, so much fight in her about justice it made his wolf roll over and soak it up. It was maddening. 

“Why didn’t you just say that? Why make everything so goddamn difficult?!” He honestly didn’t have an answer for that, instead he just clenched his jaw and stared off into the preserve.

He could feel her electric y/e/c eyes on him, but he wasn’t going to give in to her. He wasn’t here to make friends, to build a pack, to have people. As much as his wolf was clawing and scratching and trying to get him to relent and tear down the wall. He didn’t deserve that. He was here to find out who killed Laura, kill them, and leave the place that destroyed him and never look back.

He heard her phone vibrating in her pocket, and then typing before a long sigh. 

“See you around Derek, try not to kick any puppies or take candy from children while I’m gone.” The air of frustration around Y/N was enough to clog up the scent of the preserve, but he made it a personal mission to not turn around, even if his wolf was not on the same page.

He wondered why, of all people, and now, his wolf decided to develop some sort of weird attachment to the annoying human who had a death wish. 

\-----

The next school day passed without any hunters popping up so small mercies but you were still silent the whole car ride to the school, half in thought, half fuming about your life. It was like a constant simmer of anger swirling in your stomach. You were mad about everything and nothing at all.

At Derek for being stubborn, at your complicated feelings regarding said stubborn asshole, at Scott and Stiles for not realizing something bigger than all of them is happening, at the hunters for threatening you and making you feel weak, at Mrs. Morrell for being right, at the fact that hunters are fucking thing at all, and at the crazy alpha who bit Scott and turned your life into a Halloween movie. 

And at your parents for dying. Although, you really couldn’t lump that in with all your other anger, you’ve been “dealing” with that for two years now.

“You okay Y/N?” Scott asked, popping his head between the seats to stare at you. You didn’t miss Stiles' not so sudden survey of you either.

“Peachy.” Stiles at least attempted to cover up his scoff as he turned the jeeps ignition off. You rolled your eyes and jumped out of the jeep, slamming the door so Scott would have no choice but to get out on Stiles' side.

You started to walk toward the fence blocking the school busses in the lot, when you slowed down due to Scott’s hand on your arm.

“Hey, no, just me. Someone needs to keep watch.” Scott said, earning an angry huff from Stiles.

“How come I'm always the guy keeping watch?” 

“Because you don’t want to leave Y/N out here by herself do you?” You were fixing to lay in to Scott when Stiles sighed.

“Ugh.. why's it starting to feel Iike you're Batman and I'm Robin? I don't want to be Robin all the time.” You closed your mouth, not even bothering. 

You knew when to pick your battles.

“Nobody's Batman and Robin any of the time.” 

“Not even some of the time?” Stiles' face fell and you just patted his arm sympathetically.

“Just stay here.” Scott hissed, before effortlessly climbing the fence and walking to the bus.

“If he’s batman and you’re robin, who does that make me?” You asked, bumping shoulders with Stiles as he started at his phone screen.

“Wonder woman.” Stiles answered automatically and you managed a genuine smile.

“Why her?”

“Because she is a fearless Amazonian warrior princess and a bad ass. Just like you.” 

“This is why I keep you.” You smirked, which earned you a playful shove to the shoulder.

“So do you want to talk about why you were at the Hale house yesterday… Scott said he saw your car.” This could go three ways. 

You could lie, and Stiles choose to ignore it, which NEVER happened. You could lie, and he believe you, which you got away with maybe 1 percent of the time with him. Or, you could tell the truth and suffer the consequences. 

“And don’t lie.” 

“He saved my life Stiles.” You crossed your arms over your chest, glaring at your best friend who just rolled his eyes. “I went to say thank you, but he wasn’t there so I just took off into my running path to blow some steam off.” 

That technically wasn’t a lie, but the rest was definitely fabricated. It was 50 percent true and that had to count for something. He looked like he was going to argue with you, maybe demand you tell him everything else, but he just looked at you skeptically and remained silent.

You hated lying to him, but you couldn’t tell him the truth because no matter how much you argued on Derek’s behalf, Stiles would never believe you. It wasn’t like Derek was making it easy for you to convince them he was a good guy. Hell you thought he was an asshole but there was just some instinct, something deep within you that kept pushing you to trust. You tried not to think on it too much. You also couldn’t tell him about the hunters, because the last thing you wanted was for the hunters to start messing with Stiles. 

You were pulled out of your train of thought by Stiles swearing and you looked over to see him running to the car just as the school security guard was coming into the parking lot waving his flashlight around.

“Shit.” You mumbled as Stiles honked the horn and the security guard started yelling.

You hopping into the jeep, flying toward the backseat as Scott came running and quickly climbed over the fence and ran toward the jeep.

“Go! Go! Go! Go!” Scott yelled as Stiles threw the jeep in reverse and peeled out of the parking lot at record speed.

“Did it work? Did you remember?” You asked, leaning up from the back seat and Scott just sighed.

“Yeah, I was there Iast night. And the blood, a Iot of it was mine.” He frowned down at his hands as if blood was still on them.

“So you did attack him?” Stiles asked, sending you a worried look through the rear view mirror. 

“No. I saw glowing eyes in the bus, but they weren't mine. It was Derek.” You made a skeptical noise in the back of your throat that earned you a glare from Stiles but you remained silent and let Stiles continue the interrogation. 

“What about the driver?”

“I think I was actually trying to protect him.”

“Wait, why would Derek help you remember that he attacked the driver?” 

“He wouldn’t.” You piped up but held your hands up in surrender when Scott turned to glare at you too.

“That's what I don't get.” Scott said, turning around and ignoring you.

“It's got to be a pack thing.” Stiles took a sharp right causing you to almost hit the windshield in the back as he continued with his wild theories.

“What do you mean?” 

“Like an initiation. You do the kill together.” Stiles said, eyeing you but you refused to look at him anymore.

“Because ripping someone's throat out is a real bonding experience?” Scott scoffed, running his hands through his already disheveled hair. 

“Yeah, but you didn't do it, which means you're not a killer.” Stiles stated, proudly clapping Scott on the shoulder. “And it also means that--”

“I can go out with AIIison.” You glared at Scott through the headrest, but it did nothing to spoil the happy mood in the front seat.

“I was gonna say it means you won't kill us.”

“Oh, yeah. That too.” You sighed loudly, crossing your arms over your chest as you stared out into the night. 

You saw something out of the corner of your eye, fast and big, but before you could tell Stiles to stop the car the blurred shape was gone. You kept your eyes on the forest the rest of the way back to Stiles' house, knowing full and well what could be lurking in them.

\---

Scott ditched you and Stiles when you arrived home, having to hurry and get ready for his double date with Allison, Lydia, and Jackson. Which was a disaster waiting to happen.

“So how much do you want to bet Scott makes a fool of himself tonight when bowling?” Stiles mused, spinning in his desk chair as you lounged half off the bed. 

“I don’t like losing money.” You looked at Stiles, who just nodded and you both burst out laughing.

You continued your laughing fit until both your sides hurt and you just sighed mournfully as you reached for the bag of twizzlers on Stiles' desk but couldn’t reach them unless you got up. He finally took pity on you and threw them on the bed, giving you an annoyed eye roll.

“Ugh, you almost ate them all.” You whined pulling out the last three twizzlers and biting into them. 

“They were my twizzlers.” Stiles didn’t even bother turning away from the computer so you threw the last one at his head causing him to flail around in shock.

“What’s yours is mine.” You smiled proudly as Stiles searched for the twizzler you threw, hoping to throw it back.

“That’s only if we’re married dumbass.” You just gave him an inquisitive look, and he froze as you eyed him up and down.

“We kind of already are.” You surmised, rolling out of his bed with a groan. “Just without the sex.” 

You heard Stiles mumble, “Small mercies.” Which earned him a hand to the back of the head. “What was that for?!” He grumbled, rubbing his head and giving you a death stare as you laced up your Nikes. 

“You know what that was for.” You grinned, grabbing your purse from the floor and putting it over your shoulder so you could fish out your car keys. “Since you are a snack hog I’m going to the gas station down the road.”

Stiles waved over his shoulder and called out for more twizzlers before you turned toward the stairs and headed out of the house. It was already past nine, and you hadn’t heard a word from Scott yet so you hoped his date was going well.

The station was only about a ten minute run from the house but after seeing that blurry shape in the woods, you didn’t think walking alone at night in Beacon Hills was a good idea. You sang along to Ariana Grande on the radio, jamming out until you pulled into the gas station parking lot. 

You hopped out of the car and made your way inside, politely nodding to the cashier who didn’t seem to notice you with his headphones in. You skimmed over all the junk food, picking up two bags of twizzlers first because Stiles obviously couldn’t be trusted to share. You were about to pick up a bag of Doritos when multiple doors slamming at the same time caught your attention.

You looked up, hands frozen on the bag of Doritos you haven’t pulled off the shelf yet to see Chris Argent and his merry band of hunters surrounding Derek’s Camaro. You immediately dropped the twizzlers onto the shelf and ran for the door, the cashier not even paying attention.

The bell to the door made all the men freeze, and turn to you. Running halfway to the pumps might have been a huge mistake, and judging by Derek’s grr face he was giving you, you should have just stayed inside. 

“Wolf girl, I thought that was you.” You jumped at the voice behind you, which earned a growl from Derek and you heard two guns being cocked as you stared into the blue eyes you’ve become all to familiar with.

“She has nothing to do with this, let her go.” Derek said through clenched teeth and you slowly started to back up toward him and away from Mr. Blue Eyes.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong Hale..” The hunter jumped toward you, trying to scare you judging by the playful tilt to his lip, but you reacted on instinct. 

You reared back and let your fist connect with the hunters nose, causing him to yelp in pain but you didn’t stop. Years of self defense lessons at your father’s insistence took over as you grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him toward you and your knee which found its home right where his crown jewels were. He groaned in pain but you just leaned over him and smiled. 

“Not bad for a human, huh?” You sneered, fixing to aim one more kick to the man but was caught behind the arms by another hunter and dragged closer to the back of the Camaro. 

“Let her go!” Derek growled, claws popping out and you thought for sure the hunter next to Chris was going to fire but he just held up his hands.

“Nathan let Y/N go and help Luca up.” You huffed as the big tree of a man from the first night in the woods dropped you from his grip, and went to help your stalker from where he finally managed to sit up. 

You didn’t waste any time going to Derek, trying to stand in front of him so he wouldn’t get shot, but his grip on your arm forced you behind him.

“Yano.. It really is a nice ride you got there. BIack cars, though. Very hard to keep clean.” You gave Chris a funny look as he picked up the mirror cleaner next to the pump and started to clean Derek’s front windshield. 

You caught movement out of the corner of your eye, noticing they were surrounding the car. You grabbed Derek’s hand that was holding your arm, trying to convey how screwed you both were.

“I would definitely suggest a Iittle more maintenance though. If you have something this nice, you want to take care of it, right? Personally, I'm very protective of the things I Iove. But that's something I Iearned from my family and you don't have much of that these days. Do you? ” You snapped around to Chris, ignoring Derek’s hands as he tried to grab for you.

“You might want to be careful threatening us Argent, I happen to spend a lot of time with a certain member of your family.” You didn’t flinch as you saw the head of a gun swivel your way, instead you just stepped closer to the hunter and glared. “It would be a shame for your daughter to find out what you really do in your spare time.”

You and Chris stood there for what seemed like hours before he smiled. You swallowed thickly, refusing to break first and he just laughed.

“I like you Y/N… you have all the markings of a fine hunter.” You scoffed but he just kept on talking. “You have fire, a certain kind of tenacity and that unwavering loyalty.” You backed up from Chris and stood directly in front of Derek, arms crossed over your chest. 

You felt your back vibrating from Derek’s low growl, but you didn’t move. You couldn’t. 

“If you and your hunters want him, you’ll have to go through me.” Derek let out a snarl at that, his hand gripping your upper arm too tight but you just elbowed him in the stomach. 

You jumped at the sound of a window breaking and turned to see the big tree who grabbed you earlier break Derek’s driver’s side window with the butt of his gun. You were fixing to yell at him, trying to get around Derek but he had his arms around you and a hand over your mouth.

“Leave it.” He hissed in your ear, arms tightening to control your struggling. “It’s not worth it.” His voice made you stop struggling, he sounded so defeated as he removed his hand from your mouth. You looked up to see him no longer scowling, his face void of emotion.

“You can actually Iook through your windshield now. See how that makes everything so much clearer?” You turned toward Chris, anger coursing through you but you didn’t say anything. “Drive safely Mr. Hale… and Y/N?” 

“What?” You snapped, eyes glaring daggers into Chris.

“You might want to rethink who you are loyal too.. This isn’t your fight. You owe him nothing.” Chris turned to get into the SUV, but your eyes connected with Luca who sent you a smile and wave that made your skin crawl.

“Argent.” You called, halting Chris with one foot into the SUV. “My loyalties lie with those who don’t burn down houses and murder innocent people.. and they always will.”

“The Hale fire wasn’t our fault.” You felt Derek stiffen behind you, and you couldn’t help but flinch on his behalf. 

“I don’t believe you.” Chris just nodded, not bothering to say anything else as climbed into the SUV.

“Oh wolf girl… you have no idea what you just got yourself into.” Luca continued to eye you hungrily which made you shrink into Derek who tightened his arms protectively around you until the SUV was out of sight.

“You’re shaking.” You jumped at the sound of Derek’s voice, looking around you realized you were by your own car now. 

“I’m fine.” You lied, taking a deep breathe as you shook your hands to keep them from trembling.

“You shouldn’t have gotten involved.” Derek didn’t sound angry like he usually did, he sounded resigned, almost empty. 

“They can’t just get away with this Derek.. It isn’t right.” The werewolf just sighed, running his hands over his face before staring at you.

“Don’t you get it, it doesn’t matter. To them, I’m a monster, and that won’t ever change.” Derek turned to leave but you grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at you.

“You are an asshole. A grumpy, growly, can’t accept help when it’s offered, thick-headed, annoying, stubborn, stupid--”

“Are you trying to make a point or just piss me off.” Derek flashed his eyes at you but you were officially immune, so you just shook your head.

“My point is… you are a lot of things Derek Hale, but a monster isn’t one of them.” His eyes slowly bled back to their normal kaleidoscope green, his face softening just enough to see how tired he was.

“You don’t even know me.”

“I-I don’t know how to explain it but I know you’re a good person.. And in your own way, you’re trying to help. That’s enough.” You didn’t want to argue with Derek, especially after what just happened so you turned around and went into the store to get what you originally came for.

The cashier was now asleep, and you slammed the twizzlers down hard enough for him to jump awake as you heard the camaro peel out of the parking lot. You took your time checking out, trying to calm down as you walked to your car. You kept your eyes open for any dark colored SUVs on the drive home, taking the long way just to make sure you weren’t followed.

You pulled up at the house at the same time Stiles was barreling out of it. You hurried and got out of your car, slamming the door as Stiles yelled at you to get in the jeep.

“What’s going on?” You asked, barely having enough time to put on your seatbelt before he was pulling out of the driveway. “Stiles, where are we going?” 

Your question was answered when Stiles swerved onto Scott’s street.

“Are you trying to kill us?!” You hissed, causing Stiles to give you a guilty look and slow down. “Why are we going to Scott’s? What happened?”

“Dad came home while you were buying snacks.. Which, what took you so long anyway?” Your hand froze over the door handle as Stiles parked the jeep, mind going blank as you tried to come up with an excuse.

“Uh.. I ran into Greenberg, you know how he is.” You waved your hand dismissively, jumping out of the jeep behind Stiles who just hummed in response. 

You watched as Stiles by passed the door and started to climb up the tree that you used to climb up when you were all little to get to Scott’s room. 

“Really, I have a key.” Stiles just huffed and made the small jump to the window. “Fuck that, these are new shoes.” You turned away from the window, going to the front when you saw Scott pedaling up the driveway.

“What are you doing here?” Scott asked, but you didn’t get a chance to answer when you heard screams coming from upstairs. 

You ran after Scott, and up the stairs to see Melissa holding a bat and Stiles flailing on the bed.

“Can you please tell your friend to use the front door?” Mel asked, turning toward Scott as you gave Stiles a I-told-you-so grin.

“But we Iock the front door. He wouldn't be able to get in.” Scott frowned, looking between Melissa and Stiles.

“Yeah, exactly. And, by the way, do any of you care that there's a police-enforced curfew?” 

“No.” You all three answered causing you all to giggle.

“No? AII right then. Well, you know what? That's about enough parenting for me for one night..so good night.” Melissa dropped the bat, kissing your forehead lightly before leaving the room.

“Good night.” Scott called after her, before flopping on the bed with a happy grin. 

You knew that grin. That was his Allison grin.

“What?” Scott asked, turing to look at you but you just gestured toward Stiles. 

“My dad Ieft for the hospital 15 minutes ago. It's the bus driver. They said he succumbed to his wounds.” You’re body went cold as Stiles words sunk in.

“Succumbed?” 

“Scott, he's-- he’s dead.” You reached for Scott but there was no holding him. He was gone.

“Scott!” You yelled but the only answer was the front door slamming. “I have to go. I have to go right now, give me the keys.” You yelled, holding your hand out to Stiles who put the jeep keys in your palm.

Stiles handed the keys over to you and you ran out the door leaving behind a confused Stiles, but you knew exactly where Scott was going to go and you knew exactly how Derek was going to react after the night he’s had.

You drove toward the Hale house at full speed, which was only about 65 in Roscoe and you cursed the fact you didn’t take your car. You miraculously made it through the main roads without getting pulled over, wishing the jeep would just GO before finally pulled into the gravel road that lead to the house.

You heard clashing and growling as soon as you jumped out of the car. You took the stairs two at a time and burst through the already open door to see Derek hovering over Scott who looked a little worse for wear.

“Derek!” You shouted his name, stomping over to the werewolf who was transforming back to his normal, angry, human self. 

You pushed Derek away from Scott, hovering over your best friend to make sure he was okay. You noticed the slowly healing cuts on his forehead as he was glaring at Derek.

“I didn't kill him, neither of us did. It's not your fault, and it's not mine.” Derek said, being careful not to touch you as he moved around you and Scott toward the back of the house.

“This? This is all your fault! You ruined my Iife!” Scott pushed you off and grabbed Derek by the arm so he couldn’t escape.

“No, I didn't.” He snarled, removing Scott’s hand with more force than was necessary since you heard the sharp cracking of bones but Scott didn’t seem to notice or if he did, just didn’t care.

“You're the one who bit me!” 

“No, he’s not!” You yelled, pushing at the younger werewolf his time who turned on you with glowing eyes. “Don’t flash your eyes at me Scott Francis McCall.” 

You both stood in a staring match as the gold slowly left his eyes, but the anger stayed. 

“I'm not the one that bit you.” Derek spoke up, breaking the tense silence between you and Scott. “There's another. It's called an AIpha. It's the most dangerous of our kind. You and I, we're Betas.. This thing is more powerful, more animal than either of us. My sister came here Iooking for him. Now I'm trying to find him.” 

You turned toward Derek, squeezing his arm lightly so he would keep going. He gave you a small glare, and you cut your eyes to Scott. You seemed to be stuck in a contest, seeing who would back down first. You raised one eyebrow at Derek, hopefully conveying you could do this all night.

“But I don't think I can do it without you.” The words sounded like sandpaper coming out, but you just gave him a proud smile which he returned with a small snarl.

“Why me?”

“Because he's the one that bit you. You're part of his pack. It's you, Scott. You're the one he wants.” 

The smile you had slowly fell from your lips as you removed your hand from Derek and looked toward your best friend with terror that mimicked his own eyes. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, now you not only had to keep Scott away from the hunters, and keep him away from the crazy alpha.

Just another day in Beacon Hills.


	4. Magic Bullet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new hunter makes herself known, and Y/N’s secret about the hunters come to light, along with her relationship to Derek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> swearing, blood, vomit, bodily harm, mention of sex

You were fidgeting in your seat, anxious to get your test results back in history since you hadn’t had time to go over the textbook what with hunters and alpha werewolves taking up all your time. You held your breath as Mrs. Kyle laid your test face down with a disapproving frown before moving to Stiles.

You peaked at the paper, noticing a huge red B minus glaring up at you. You let the paper back down on the table turning back to Stiles who held a solid A up with a smirk in your direction. You never knew how he did it, but he always managed to outscore you with NO effort. 

You kind of hated him.

Kinda.

“Dude, you need to study more.” Stiles said as the bell rang and for a moment you thought he was talking to you until you noticed the giant D on Scott’s test. “That was just a joke. Scott, it's one test. You're gonna make it up.” 

“Do you want help studying?” You asked, gathering your books and following your boys out of the hall but Scott just shook his head.

“I'm studying with AIIison after school today.” You smiled as Stiles patted Scott’s back enthusiastically. 

“That's my boy.”

“We're just studying.” Scott said, shaking his head as you all were putting up your books.

“Uh-uh. No, you're not.” 

“I'm not?”

“Not if I'm forced to Iive vicariously through you. If you go to her house today and squander that colossal opportunity, I swear to God I'II have you de-balled.” You hit Stiles over the head with a loud smack as Scott just nodded along.

“Okay. Just stop with the questions, man.”

“Done.” Stiles promised, making a zipping motion over his mouth.

“No more questions. No more talk about the AIpha or Derek. Especially Derek, who still scares me..” Scott sighed, slamming his locker and going toward the locker room. 

You followed behind after you gave a longing look toward the aquatic center. You politely told Mrs. Parkins you were going to have to take a break from the swim team this morning, what with all the craziness, and it had been one of the hardest things you had to do. 

When you were in the water, you felt free, and now, you felt trapped. You had been on edge since last night with Derek’s bomb drop about the alpha wanting Scott, and to top it off, you had to look constantly look over your shoulder for the hunters who you thought were following you since you noticed a black SUV parked down the road.

Maybe you were just paranoid, since Stiles didn’t seem to notice and he usually noticed everything. You left the boys to change and decided to make your way toward the lacrosse pitch. You noticed Danny already there, as usual, but you didn’t have the heart to flirt with him.

“What’s wrong Y/L/N? No witty remarks today?” You gave him a half hearted smile and he seemed to notice since he dropped his cross and came over to you. “You alright? Shouldn’t you be at swim practice?”

“I quit the team.” You said for the first time today, not looking at Danny but instead at the ground as you moved an interesting pebble around.

“Why? You’re like the best girl they have?”

“There’s just a lot going on right now.” You shrugged, slipping your hands into your jacket before straightening up and putting on a brave face for the other lacrosse guys coming onto the pitch.

“You sure?” He asked, squeezing your shoulder lightly and you leaned up to place a kiss on his cheek.

“Yeah, thanks.” You steadily avoided Stiles and Scott’s eyes on you in the bleachers as you barely paid attention to the practice. You knew they were going to hound you with questions but you didn’t feel like answering. 

Time flew by so fast and in a daze as you walked to the jeep while Scott and Stiles talked in a hushed whispers behind you. You told them the truth, that with everything going on, swim practice didn’t seem too high on your priority list. Stiles, of course, objected but you just assured him it was just this season, and you still had cross country because you weren’t going to give up your free ride to college.

You jumped into the passenger side of the jeep, eyes scanning the parking lot as Stiles pulled into the line to leave when Derek came stumbling into view.

“Oh my god, you gotta be kidding me. This guy's everywhere.” You were the first one out of the jeep, barreling toward Derek at the same time Scott grabbed him.

“What the hell? What are you doing here?” Scott snapped, shaking Derek.

“I was shot.” Derek spoke between breathes and you quickly shoved Scott out of the way to asses the damage. 

Derek was pale. Deathly pale. You noticed his eyes going in and out of focus as he stared at you.

“Why aren't you healing?” You asked, as you ran your hands down his chest checking for the entry wound.

Derek was breathing harder, panting almost as he swayed into you. “I can't. It was a different kind of bullet.”

“A silver bullet?” Stiles asked excitedly

“No, you idiot.” You snickered lightly but was cut off when Derek growled at you for your hands being close to his belt.

“Don’t growl at the woman trying to find where you were shot.” You hissed and stopped giving you a small glare before looking toward his arm. You noticed the blood stating to stain his leather jacket and swore quietly.

“Wait.. That's what she meant when she said you had 48 hours.”

“What? Who said 48 hours?” You and Derek asked at the same time.

“The one who shot you.” You glared at Scott, wondering why he just now decided to say anything to you but when you noticed Stiles' face you realized Scott didn’t say anything to him either.

You let Derek lean more into you as you gripped his upper arm to try and stop the bleeding. 

“What are you doing? Stop that.” Scott said, looking around wildly to make sure no one noticed Derek’s eyes flashing from green to blue.

“That's what I'm trying to tell you. I can't.”

“Derek, get up.” You said, trying to pull the two hundred pounds of muscle off the ground as horns began to honk behind the jeep. “Help me put him in the jeep.” You snapped at Scott as Stiles just made a sound behind you and climbed into the driver side.

“I need you to find out what kind of bullet they used.” Derek said to Scott as you let his arm go and climbed into the back.

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?”

“She's an Argent. She's with them.” 

“Why should I help you?” 

You glared at Scott, sitting up between the seats. “Because we need him, now go get the damn bullet before I go over to Allison’s and get it myself.” 

Scott and Stiles gave you a betrayed look as Derek just sighed in pain in the front seat. You grabbed his upper arm again, applying more pressure when you felt your fingers squish into the material. 

“Fine.” 

Scott slammed the door without another word and you turned toward Stiles. “We need to get him out of here. Now.”

“I hate you for this so much.” Stiles swore, pulling out of the parking lot at record speed. 

You squeezed Derek’s arm tighter, ignoring the werewolf hiss in pain. “Do you want to bleed out?” 

“No.” He just groaned as you adjusted your grip.

“Try not to bleed out on my seats, okay? We're almost there.” Stiles said, trying to find your eyes in the mirror but you were ignoring his gaze.

“AImost where?”

“Your house.”

“What? No, you can't take him there!” Derek stiffened in the seat, before turning to look at you.

You ignored him too.

“I can't take him to his own house?”

“Not when he can't protect himself, you can’t.” Honestly, Stiles was smarter than this.

“What happens if Scott doesn't find your Iittle magic bullet? Hmm?” He asked, pulling over to the side of the road and parking. 

The air was tense inside the jeep, the only sound was Derek’s hard breathing. Your fingers were starting to ache from the hold on his arm, and you felt more and more blood starting to coat your hands.

“Are you dying?” You whispered, finally meeting Derek’s eyes. 

“Not yet.. I have a Iast resort.” You bit your lip, worrying the bottom one between your teeth as Derek pulled out of your grip.

“What do you mean? What Iast resort?” Stiles asked, but you couldn’t hear anything over the sound of your own heart pounding.

Stiles gaged as Derek rolled up his sleave to reveal a nasty looking bullet hole. “Oh, my God! What is that? Oh, is that contagious? You know what, you should probably just get out.”

“Start the car. Now.” Derek demanded, eyes cutting to you but you were just staring at your hands. 

“I don't think you should be barking orders with the way you Iook. In fact, I think if I wanted to, I could probably drag your Iittle werewolf ass out into the middle of the road and Ieave you for dead.” That caught your attention away from your oncoming panic attack.

“Start the car, or I'm gonna rip your throat out, with my teeth.” Stiles stared at Derek, then to you, before starting the jeep again.

Stiles was on the phone to Scott, arguing over where to take Derek but you just kept your hands on Derek’s arm.

“You okay?” You jumped when you realized Derek was talking to you.

“I should be asking you that.”

"You’re heart sounds like a jackrabbit, it’s too fast.” You tried to take a calming breath but between the blood and Stiles' yelling, it wasn’t helping. 

“It always sounds like that.”

“Why.” 

You let out a shaky breath, “It’s called anxiety, Derek.”

“You worried about me?” He asked, coughing roughly enough for you to wince and tighten your grip. 

“I have a thing about people not dying on me.” You mumbled, eyes set to the road ahead of you. If Derek heard you, he didn’t say anything, which you were grateful.

“Did you find it?” Stiles asked, and soon you heard Scott’s voice over the speaker.

“How am I supposed to find one bullet? They have a million! This house is Iike the freaking Walmart of guns!”

Derek grabbed the phone from Stiles’s hand. “If you don't find it, then I'm dead, all right?”

“I'm starting to think that wouldn't be such a bad thing.”

“Then think about this. The AIpha called you out against your will. He's gonna do it again. Next time, you either kill with him or you get killed. So if want to stay alive, then you need me. Find the bullet.” You watched as Derek hung up on Scott, before handing the phone back to Stiles.

The road Stiles turned down was very familiar and you couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“Really? To the clinic?” You asked and Stiles just shrugged as he pulled into the back of Scott’s place of work.

It took both you and Stiles to get Derek out of the car, and that was by a miracle alone since the werewolf was pure muscle. You heard Stiles mumbling under his breath but you kept your comments to yourself as you helped ease Derek into one of the exam rooms.

Stiles' phone beeped signaling a text, “Does Nordic blue monkshood mean anything to you?” 

“It's a rare form of wolfsbane.” Derek gave you a look and you just shrugged. “You think I didn’t research the shit out of werewolves?” 

“He has to bring me the bullet.” Derek said as he was shrugging out of his jacket. 

“Why?”

“Because I’m gonna die without it.” You gave Stiles a significant look before he started typing rapidly on his phone. 

You left Stiles to talk to Scott and tried to help Derek with his shirt. 

“Let me.” You mumbled, hands going to his shirt but he grabbed them. “Derek.. I’m trying to help.” 

“I--I know that.” He hissed, throwing your hands away and ripped the shirt off revealing his arm which now had black lines running up it from the wolfsbane. 

“You know, that really doesn't Iook Iike anything some Echinacea and a good night's sleep couldn't take care of.” Stiles said sarcastically and you shot him a glare which made him hold his hands up in surrender.

“When the infection reaches my heart, it'II kill me.” 

“Positivity just isn't in your vocabulary, is it?”

“If he doesn't get here with the bullet in time, Iast resort.”

You couldn’t help but look over him since he was right in front of you, but you kept your staring to a minimum. You could tell Derek was uncomfortable, for whatever reason, and tried to not make a big deal about it. 

“Which is?” You asked hesitantly, eyes darting back to him.

When he turned around to look through Dr. Deaton’s drawers, your breath caught in your throat. You noticed the large tattoo at the center of Derek’s back, the only mark on his body standing out against the smooth expanse of muscle.

It was a circle composed of three spirals. You caught your hands itching to reach out and trace your fingers over it, wondering what it meant. Derek’s shoulders tensed, and you knew that you were caught staring, even if he couldn’t see you. 

He finally found it and held it up for you to see. “You're going to cut off my arm.”

“I’m not going to cut off your arm, Derek! What-- What if you bleed to death?” You heard Stiles gagging behind you as Derek slid the bone saw across the exam table for you. 

Derek just fixed you with a determined glare as he put his arm on the table, tying off the rubber band above the wound. “It'II heal if it works.” 

“IF? If? No. No.. there has to be some other way--”

“There isn’t.” He growled and you just shook your head no.

“AII right, fine.” Derek said as he grabbed your shirt and pulled you across the table roughly, despite Stiles outright cry. “How about this? Either you cut off my arm or I'm gonna cut off his head.”

“You wouldn’t.” You knew your heart was jumping in your chest, but it wasn’t out of fear. You knew Derek was all bark and no bite, at least when it came to you.

“You really want to find out.” His eyes were shifting between blue and green again, and suddenly you were pushed out of the way of Derek’s grip and Stiles was standing in front of you.

“AII right, bought, sold, totally, I'II do it.” Stiles said, grabbing the saw and turning it on. 

“Derek..” You tried one last time, but he just held onto the table roughly and looked at the wall.

Stiles was fixing to put the saw to his arm when Derek jerked away and over the table. “What are you doing?.. Holy God! What the hell is that?” Stiles asked, gesturing to the black vomit that adorned the floor.

“It's my body, it is trying to heal itself.” Derek was panting now, looking closer to death.

“Well, it's not doing a very good job of it.” You snapped.

“Now, you gotta do it now.” 

“Look, honestly, I don't think I can--”

“Just do it!”

“Oh, my God.” You whispered, horrified but unable to look away as Stiles turned the saw back on and hovered under the spot Derek tied off.

“Stiles? Y/N?” 

Your eyes snapped toward the door and the saw’s noise died down. “Scott?” 

“What the hell are you two doing?” Scott said, running up to Derek as you let out a deep breath.

“Oh, you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares.” Stiles sighed, backing away from the table and laying the saw down.

“Did you get it?” Derek asked and Scott handed over the bullet. 

You came up behind Derek, peering at the bullet in his hands. “What are you gonna do with it?” 

“I'm gonna - I’m..” Suddenly the bullet fell from Derek’s grip and you had your hands full of werewolf as Derek collapsed.

“No, no, no! Derek? Derek, come on.” You couldn’t do much more than let him fall since Scott and Stiles dove for the bullet. “Wake up!” You said, slapping Derek’s cheeks lightly. 

“I can't reach it.” Stiles said, as Scott pushed him out of the way.

“He's not waking up! I think he's dying.. God, Derek. You can’t die on me!” You slapped him a little harder this time but nothing.

“Oh! I got it! I got it!” Scott screamed and you took a deep breathe.

“PIease don't kill me for this..” You grumbled, before punching Derek right in the face as hard as you could. 

Your hand screamed in agony as you fell over, clutching your fist with your other hand but Derek jerked awake.

“Uh... Give me that.” He mumbled as Scott helped him up and gave him the bullet. 

Derek quickly took the bullet, biting off the cap and pouring the wolfsbane out of it and onto the table. Stiles helped you up, reaching for your hurt hand as Derek lit the wolfsbane on fire. You all jumped back at the spark it made, watching the fire turn from regular yellow to a mystical blue.

Derek then scooped up the burnt wolfsbane and put it directly on the wound. He started to dig it into the bullet hole, the powder smoking blue still as he screamed in pain but you watched it heal up before your very eyes.

If your fingers weren’t still throbbing and Derek wasn’t on the floor, you would have thought that was the coolest thing you’ve ever seen. 

“That was awesome! Yes!” Stiles exclaimed, fist pumping the air as you and Scott glared. Yours was only half hearted because, well, magic.

You helped Scott with getting Derek on his feet. “Are you okay?” 

“Except for the agonizing pain?” He grunted, rolling his shoulders and undoing the rubber band.

“I'm guessing the ability to use sarcasm is a good sign of health.” You snarked, flexing your fingers to try and get the feeling back in them.

“Okay, we saved your Iife, which means you're gonna Ieave us alone. You got that? And if you don't, I'm gonna go back to AIIison's dad, and I'm gonna tell him everything.” You stared at Scott, unable to close your jaw and took a step toward Derek.

“You’re gonna trust them? You think they can help you?” 

"Why not? They're a Iot freaking nicer than you are!” Scott yelled but you just shook your head. 

“We are not trusting the Argents.” You said, letting there be no room for arguments in your voice. Stiles and Scott turned to you for the second time today with a look of betrayal. 

“Yeah, I can show you exactly how nice they are…” Derek said, ignoring you and your friends stare down. “Follow me.” 

You saw Stiles and Scott hesitate, but you didn’t. You followed right behind Derek. The car ride was stiff until you dropped Derek off by the Camaro so he could change and have you all follow him. 

“What the hell was that?” Scott asked as soon as Stiles was on the road and following Derek.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You said, ignored Stiles' scoff. 

“The Argent’s aren’t the enemy. Allison--”

“Allison isn’t the enemy.. But her father and the girl who shot Derek, are.” 

“How do you know? How do you know they aren’t just after alpha.. I mean, if they kill him, then our problems go away.” Stiles said, trying to be the voice of reason but you just laughed.

“They’re Argents, they don’t just stop at one werewolf.”

“How do you know?”

“Because they have been following me!” You screamed, causing Stiles to slam on the breaks. You noticed the Camaro stop too, but Derek didn’t get out.

“What.” Stiles voice was deadly, hands gripping the wheel enough to make his knuckles white.

“The hunter in the woods with Chris came up to me after the lacrosse game, said to watch my back. Then he showed up at the School while I was doing laps in the pool, just watching me… and the other night when I went to get snacks? The hunters, led by Allison’s dad, had Derek cornered while he was just trying to get gas.” 

Scott didn’t say anything, instead just scowled at the Camaro as if it was all Derek’s fault. 

“Did they do anything to you?” Stiles asked, voice calm without any emotion but you could tell he was upset.

“The hunter, Luca, tried to grab me but I laid him on his ass and Derek put himself between me and the rest of them. He wasn’t even doing anything wrong and they busted his windshield.. It was awful.” You sat there for a minute in silence before Stiles flashed his lights for Derek to continue on.

No one spoke again until the jeep parked at Beacon Hills Crossing Home attached to the hospital, a place for the elderly and those who couldn’t care for themselves. You felt your stomach drop.

“What are we doing here?” Scott spoke up for the first time but Derek just walked into the building, with you three on his heels. 

The walk down the corridor was silent, and you could see Scott wrinkling his nose up at smell. Honestly, you didn’t know how he could do it because the place reeked of death and that was just to your human nose.

Derek paused outside of room 203, before pushing the door open and walking inside. You knew who the man was as soon as you pulled up, but kept quiet as Scott asked.

“Who is he?”

“My uncle. Peter Hale.”

“Is he Iike you? A werewolf?” Stiles asked, watching the man in the chair who wasn’t moving. 

If you didn’t know any better, you would think he was a statue. He was older than you and Derek, maybe early thirties. He was pretty even with half his face consumed by burn scars, which came to no surprise to you, the Hales had awesome genes. 

“He was. Now he's barely even human.. Six years ago, my sister and I were at school. Our house caught fire. EIeven people were trapped inside. He was the only survivor.” You placed your hand on Derek’s shoulder, ignoring the way he tensed up because you knew he needed some kind of comfort.

“So what makes you so sure that they set the fire?” Scott asked, no longer angry but resigned.

“Cause they were the only ones that knew about us.”

“Then they had a reason--” You looked at Scott, really looked at him, but you couldn’t even recognize him.

“Like what? You tell me what justifies this.” Derek said through his teeth, anger starting to bubble up and you were right behind him.

“They say they 'II only kill an adult and only with absolute proof--”

“But there were people in my family that were perfectly ordinary in that fire. This is what they do. And it's what AIIison will do.” You froze behind Derek, who was glaring at Scott just as the nurse came in.

“What are you doing? How did you get in here?”

“We were just Ieaving.” You said, steering Derek away from Scott as the boys followed behind you.

“You know I’m right.” Derek said, not bothering to whisper.

“I know you’re right about Chris and the others.. But Allison doesn’t know.” You said, as Derek scoffed.

“And what do you think she’ll do when she finds out? Go against her own family? Her birth right?” You bit your lip, trying to come up with some sort of reason, but you couldn’t.

Allison was an unknown variable. Her whole family, they were monsters, and you knew deep down, you couldn’t judge someone based on their family, but you also couldn’t count them out. 

“I don’t know about Allison, but you can’t just assume everyone is out to get you Derek. For now let's worry about what we know, which is Chris and the lady who shot you--”

“Kate.” He mumbled, and you raised an eyebrow at him. “Her name is Kate. Kate Argent.” You narrowed your eyes at Derek, knowing by the look in his own that there was something he wasn’t telling you. 

Something big.

“Y/N, come on, we’re leaving.” Stiles called before jumping in the jeep with Scott. 

“If Chris finds out Scott is--”

“I know.” You said, reaching for Derek’s arm and squeezing. “I’ll keep an eye on him.. and her.” You whispered the last part before turning around and walking toward the jeep. 

It only took five minutes into the drive for Scott to start. “He’s wrong about her.”

You chose each word carefully, not wanting Scott made at you. “I didn’t say he was right… about her.” 

“What the hell is going on between you two? Suddenly you’re taking Derek’s side in everything, going to see him, saving him from the hunters--”

“What is going on with you?!” You yelled, cutting Scott off. “Since when do we just let someone die. It isn’t right.. Maybe you should get your own head out of Allison’s ass and think about what you’re doing. The hunters are the enemy, not Derek!”

“She’s not a hunter!”

“Not yet!” You snapped, breathing heavy along with Scott as Stiles remained silent in the driver's seat the whole time until now.

“You two, time out! It’s been a long ass day, I almost had to saw someone’s arm off, so.. Just.. shut up. Both of you.” You glared at Scott through the rearview mirror, but didn’t say another word.

Stiles turned up the radio, the soft sounds of Luke Bryan coming through the speakers serenaded you all the way to Scott’s house. You crossed your arms, being petulant, and made Stiles let Scott out who didn’t even bother looking at you as he exited the vehicle. 

You couldn’t help but feel a little guilty by the way Stiles was tapping his foot with anxiety. You knew he hated being stuck in the middle of your and Scott's spats. You hated it too. Scott was just too stubborn, like you, and like Stiles. 

“Are you sleeping with him?” Stiles asked after he pulled back on the road and all you could do was stare at him with your mouth wide open. “Do you like him? Does he have some sort of black mail on you? ..I’m just trying to figure out why you are fighting so hard for him.”

“Do you really want to know?” You asked, turning toward Stiles who just nodded. 

“It’s not because I’m sleeping with him, or because I like him-- which I don’t, I think he is a grumpy, anti-social, stubborn asshole.” 

“Then why?”

“Because.. I don’t know.” You admitted, turning away from Stiles to look out the window. “I don’t know if it’s because he lost everyone too I know what that’s like. And for some unknown reason, he blames himself.”

“You didn’t kill your parents Y/N.” Stiles said automatically and you just let out a laugh.

“Neither did he.. And he deserves to have someone be there for him and tell him that, just like I do. I can’t explain it Stiles and I’ve been trying to figure it out but it’s just… it’s like my soul just trusts him. I honestly can’t tell you why but it does and I just… do.”

“He’s going to get you killed.” You sighed deeply, turning to look but Stiles was focused on the road ahead.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the hunters.. I thought.. I can’t have you getting hurt Stiles. Not because of me.” 

“How many times do I have to tell you, your problems are my problems.”

“I know.” You mumbled, stepping out of the jeep when he pulled into his driveway. 

You noticed the sheriff was home, which was a pleasant surprise for Stiles, whose eyes lit up when he saw the cruiser. 

“I’m gonna go relax.. Have fun with your dad.” You gave him a small smile even though he protested you leaving to go to your own house. 

You unlocked the door, and made your way in, turning on the lights for the first time in a couple of days. You missed your bed since you spent the last couple of nights with Stiles, but you hated the house. Every sound you made echoed, causing you to jump slightly. 

Your phone beeping signaling a text had you almost jump out of your own skin.

[Stiles] Dad’s on patrol tonight, going to go with him for some bonding. You okay by yourself?

[Y/N] I’m not 12. 

[Stiles] I know that :|

[Y/L] Go, have fun, catch bad guys, I have a date with Netflix.

[Stiles] Call me if you need me

You locked your phone, not bothering to reply, before heading to the fridge. You opened it, knowing nothing was going to be in there, but thought if magic werewolf healing was a thing, then maybe magic refrigerators were too.

Sadly, they were not.

You eyed the half empty milk carton with interest until you saw the date, which was a month ago. You sighed before turning toward the drawer that housed all the take out menus. You were deciding between Chinese and pizza when you heard rustling from upstairs. You slowly moved toward the back of the kitchen, hands reaching behind you for the knife block. 

You found what you wanted, and slowly crept toward the stairs. You felt like Michael Myers as you sneakily climbed the steps one at a time, your back against the wall. You could no longer hear movement, but you did see a shadow moving in your room which had the only light on upstairs.

You paused outside your door, hand tightening on the knife, before opening it slowly. You were glad it didn’t creak alerting whoever was in your room, but when you slowly stepped inside, knife at the ready, you saw no one. Your eyes zoned in on the window, your cream colored curtains blowing with the wind and frowned. 

You were two stories up and there wasn’t anything to climb to get to your window. Which meant one thing. You felt the hairs on your neck stand up but it wasn’t out of fear. More like an alert that someone was near.

“Yano, you could just use the front door instead of breaking and entering.” You said to the room as you relaxed your grip on the knife. You slowly turned around to see Derek coming out from behind your door in all his creeper glory. “What if I would have stabbed you?” You asked, waving the knife around.

“You wouldn’t have gotten the chance.” He said, smirking slightly as he sauntered to the window and closed it before peering out. 

“Is there any reason you are breaking and entering?” You asked, dropping the knife on your nightstand. It never hurt to be too prepared. 

“You didn’t go with Stiles.” He said as if that answered all your questions. It didn’t. In fact, it left you with more.

You eyed Derek carefully, before turning around and going back downstairs. “I sometimes need a break from all his disapproving of my life choices.” 

You were catching onto the fact you didn’t have to yell anymore when walking away from Derek or Scott, sometimes the werewolf hearing was awesome. Sometimes, it was a pain in the ass. 

“Chinese or Pizza?” You asked, moving to the kitchen as you heard footsteps coming down the stairs. 

“What.” 

“We’re going to have to work on your questions, Derek. Not everything ends with a period.” You eyed him once, before going back to the menus and making a choice since Derek didn’t answer. “Pizza it is.. Let me guess, meat lovers?” 

When you looked up, Derek was frowning angrily at you, but it looked more like a pout which was hilarious. 

And kind of adorable. 

“What?” You asked, eyeing him for a long moment before picking up your phone and placing the pizza order. “Do you like wings?” Derek’s eyebrows did a complicated v motion as you ordered wings along with a cookie brownie. “Can werewolves have chocolate? I mean Scott’s eaten chocolate since he’s been bitten but you were born so--”

Derek’s pouty angry face finally broke as he rolled his eyes. “We aren’t dogs, Y/N.”

“Debatable, have you seen Scott? He is an adorable puppy.” You paused. “Most days.” 

You moved around Derek effectively, pulling out a bottle of water for you before looking at Derek. “Water? Coke?” You looked to the back of the fridge and saw a couple of bud light bottles. “Beer?” 

“You’re not old enough to drink.” He said, causing you to shake the water bottle at him.

“Which is why I have this.. I’m asking if you would like one.” 

“Waters fine.” You shrugged your shoulders before tossing him a water which he caught with ease. 

You closed the fridge and made your way into the living room, ignoring Derek’s eyes on you. You pretended that having the werewolf in your house was normal, because if you made a big deal about it you were sure it would spook him and cause him to run. You grabbed the remote off the coffee table, grimacing at the dust outline left on the table, before shrugging and turning the tv on.

“Sorry about the dust.. I’m not here that much.” Derek’s face did the complicated eyebrow thing again as you made yourself comfortable on the couch, leaving the loveseat open for him. He sat down slowly, and stiffly, like a scared kitten.

“I noticed.” He said, shoving his hands in his pockets and staring out the window. 

You had no idea what he was looking at since the curtains were pulled close. You muted the, finally looking at him for more than just a minute.

“So you’ve been watching me?” You asked, causing Derek to glare. 

“I’ve been watching the hunters who have been watching you.” You nodded, trying to not freak out, but failing. 

“I thought I saw an SUV parked down the street early this morning.. But I thought I was being paranoid.. Guess not.” You sighed, running your hands through your hair before muting the tv.

Derek watched two episodes of Friends with you, but you mostly watched Derek out the corner of your eye. He still hadn’t relaxed, his shoulders hunched as his eyes stayed glued to the tv. You noticed his mouth twitch when Chandler said something funny or Phoebe said something stupid, but he never smiled.

You saw him stiffen up even more, his eyes leaving the TV and going to the door. You watched as he got up, you following behind him and he opened the door before the pizza guy even had a chance to knock, which made him jump. 

You recognized him from School, Matt was giving you a blinding smile as he regained his composure but it faltered when he caught Derek’s glare.

“Hey, Y/N. I thought this was your house.” You paused, smile wavering at that because, creepy, but then again, everyone knew where the sheriff lived, and everyone knew you were neighbors so you let it go. 

“Yep, this is me, let me get my wallet one sec--”

“Here.” Derek shoved two twenties toward the boy with a scowl. You pinched him lightly, trying to remind him to be nice, but it wasn’t working. 

“Uh, yeah, let me just grab your change..” He said, cautiously handing Derek the pizza.

“Keep it.” Derek said, slamming the door in your classmates face. 

“Dude, what the hell!” You hissed, walking toward the window and pulling the curtain to peak outside. 

The guy was still standing on the porch while the money and staring at the door, but when he realized Derek wasn’t going to open it again he frowned and turned to go back to the car. 

You tsked at Derek, following him into the kitchen and going to the cabinets that held the plates. “That was rude.” 

“He smelled weird.” Derek grumbled, taking the plate from you and opening the pizza box. You watched him with an air of smugness as his took 6 pieces of pizza and put it on the plate along with a whole box of wings. 

You knew ordering two of everything was a good idea since you noticed Scott inhaling more than twice the food he did before he was bitten. 

“And what exactly does weird smell like?” You wondered aloud but Derek didn’t take the bait. 

He paused at the entrance of the kitchen, eyes skirting from the table to the living room and you just laughed. 

“We can eat in the living room.” You rolled your eyes at Derek’s huff and gilded right past him and back to your spot on the couch. 

You didn’t say anything while you ate, just slowly munching on your pizza and wings. You couldn’t hide your smile as Derek went back for more pizza, and he could sense your smugness.

“I paid for it.” He grumbled, tearing off a big bite and you just gave him a serious nod.

“Yes you did.” Your condescending tone didn’t go unnoticed but Derek didn’t make another sound except for the small scoff. 

After Derek polished off the last of the pizza, you calling it quits after 3 slices and a couple of wings, you made grabby hands at the cookie that was on Derek’s plate, not wanting to get up.

“Get your own.” He said and you gave him your best pout.

You knew it was working when you saw him glare at the offending piece of bakery.

He handed over his piece and bitched under his breath until he got another piece from the kitchen. You ate your cookie with a smile and Derek with a glare, and you noticed him relax in the couch for the first time since he came in.

“Well as fun as this is, it’s bedtime.” You said, standing up from the couch and stretching. Derek started for the front door without a word but you stopped him by blocking his way. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“Home?” 

“We both know that’s a lie. No need to spend all night patrolling the tree line when you can just sleep here.” You went to grab his arm but he caught it in a painful grip as he looked at you with a mix of disgust and hurt.

“You’re 16, I’m not about to--” You pushed his hands off you with a slap, which surprised him enough to let you go. 

“One, I’m 17. And two? Conceded much? We have a spare room.” You twisted on your heels, your hair slapping Derek if the sputtering behind you was anything to go by. 

You felt embarrassed and angry all in one at the way he just looked at you. It wasn’t like you were expecting him to jump in your bed, because you didn’t. You didn’t. It was more hurtful than anything, that after everything that had happened between you, that was what he saw you as.

The anger and embarrassment slowly started to meld into sadness, and you refused to go there, so you didn’t. You stopped with your first foot on the stairs, one hand on the rail before turning back and walking up to Derek.

“Look, obviously you are used to people who have some ulterior motive or something but.. Damnit, I’ve done nothing but try and help you okay, so I don’t appreciate the hostitly and the-- the judgy and angry eyes you just gave me.” You’re skin felt tight and your heart was beating too fast as you marched back over to Derek to poke him in the chest. “Yano what.. no. Fuck you Derek, for even thinking.. God. Yes, you are attractive in a marble-greek-god kinda way, I can’t help that. But I didn’t.. I wasn’t--”

You took a deep breath before meeting Derek’s eyes, who no longer looked angry but resigned, and maybe a little ashamed.

“I didn’t risk my life with the hunters because your hot and I wanted to fuck you, so if you will kindly get your head out of your own ass..” You turned away from him and walked toward the stairs for good this time. “The spare room is next to mine, bathroom is the last door on the left. There are clean towels under the sink.” 

With that you left Derek to decide what to do, but not before slamming the door to your room for good measure.


	5. The Tell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another body drops in Beacon Hills and the hunters make the first move.

After yelling at Derek and slamming the door to your room, you turned off all the lights and curled up in bed like a child. You glared a hole in your door even though it would do nothing but make your eyes sting. You didn’t know if he would even stay, but a couple minutes after laying in bed you heard the stairs creak signaling someone coming up them. 

You half hoped Derek would come in, apologize, but you knew he wouldn’t. Instead, you let your ears follow Derek down the hall and into the bath. The shower turned on after a couple of minutes, and you let out a deep sigh and uncovered yourself walking toward your dresser. You rummaged through your clothes, looking for a pair of sweatpants Derek would fit into and finally found a pair of Scott’s old ones.

You grabbed them, along with a Beacon Hills lacrosse shirt that Stiles ordered three sizes too big just so you could have it. You carefully opened the door to your room and crept down the hall before realizing you weren’t doing anything that would require you to creep because this was your own damn house.

You laid the sweats and shirt down outside the door because you weren’t even going to open it and put them inside because that would just bring upon another argument like the one downstairs and you were tired. So tired, that you were going to just go to bed.

“There’s something to sleep in.” You said gruffly, before turning back around and walking toward your room, not quite slamming the door with as much animosity as before but enough so Derek knew you were still mad.

You closed your eyes once your crawled back under the covers, trying to count sheep or something but your ears were too attuned to what was happening in your house. You heard the shower turn off, and after a few minutes you heard footsteps coming toward your room. 

You listened as Derek paused right outside your door, but you squeezed your eyes shut. You knew it was fruitless because your heart was beating way too fast for you to be asleep, but you really didn’t want to talk to him. After three minutes of his hovering, you sighed dramatically and rolled over onto your back to stare at the ceiling.

“Go to sleep.” It was a simple order, and you almost thought Derek was going to open the door and growl at you but he didn’t. He hovered for maybe another minute before you heard the guest room door open and shut. 

You looked at the glow in the dark stars you and Stiles put on your ceiling when you were six and going through your astronomy faze, counting each of them since you weren’t going to be able to sleep with grumpywolf pitter-pattering around the guest room all night. 

You tried though, but after thirty minutes of hearing Derek’s footsteps wear a hole in the floor of the guest room, you had enough. You threw the covers off the bed, fixing to stand up and go over there when your phone went off on your nightstand. You glared at the wall connecting the spare to your own room before reaching for your phone.

[Stiles] I know you’re probably asleep but there was a report of a murder, going with dad to check it out. Might be the alpha. We’ll talk in the morning. 

You’re heart sank as your eyes stared at the text on your phone. You didn’t even register your door being opened until Derek was right in front of you, causing you to jump in surprise.

“Jesus! Don’t do that!” You screamed, clutching your heart where it was jackrabbiting in your chest.

“You’re heart was going crazy, what’s wrong?” Derek asked and you were fixing to yell at him to get out when you saw the concerned look on his face. 

For the first time since you’ve met him, he wasn’t wearing his leather jacket and tight dark jeans, he was in comfy clothes that even the shirt hung off his shoulders enough to reveal his collar bone. It threw you off a little at how relaxed he looked, his hair still wet from the shower and sticking to his forehead instead of gelled.

“Y/N.” Derek snapped his hand in front of your face and you felt your cheeks heat up at being caught staring, but he didn’t comment, instead just glared at you. 

Derek looking adorable in comfy clothes trying to glare was your new favorite thing. Ever.

Once you snapped out of your daze, you gave Derek your phone. You watched as his glare turned into a frown before handing it back to you. He turned to leave but you shot out of the bed and grabbed his arm.

“There isn’t anything you can do if you’re dead on your feet Derek.. Go to sleep, we’ll deal with this tomorrow.” 

“I can’t just--”

“You can, and you will.” You said, poking him in the chest for good measure. “You’re body has been through a lot of stress.. You need to sleep. Now, go. Rest.” You made a shooing motion toward the door that had him scowling at you, but listening.

It was progress. 

You crawled back in bed, satisfied when you heard the guest room door close. You were trying to relax, let the day you’ve had slowly slip away. You felt your heartbeat slowing, eyes getting heavier with each breath until you finally closed them, hopefully drifting off to a place without werewolves. 

\---

Naturally, that could never be the case. You’re sleep consisted of flashing eyes, fangs, and claws mixed with guns and bullets and blue smoke. To say the least, you’ve had better nights sleep. You grumbled your way out of bed, stopping at the guest room door, knocking lightly.

When you didn’t hear anything, you opened the door to see the bed perfectly made, the clothes you let Derek borrow folded neatly on the bed and no sign that Derek was even in the room, let alone in your house when you came downstairs and the plates were put up in their respective places and the leftover pizza was tucked away in the fridge.

You frowned, looking around the room. “Who knew werewolves had such good manners.” 

It was too early for this so you let it go. Maybe Derek was some closeted clean freak, who knows, but all you knew is you were going to be late. You sluggishly moved upstairs and to your room to start getting ready. Putting on your favorite ripped jeans and a cute top to make you feel just a little more human. 

You didn’t do much to your hair, the curly mess having a mind of it’s own most days but you did put on a little concealer and mascara to make your eyes look like you have gotten sleep in 800 years. You brushed your teeth as you texted Stiles back, saying you would drive today and that you might be late because you needed coffee. 

You put the phone in your back pocket before grabbing your book bag and slinging it over your shoulder. You made your way out of the house and to your car on autopilot, trying not to think too much about the nightmares or anything else but that quickly changed when you looked up to see a black SUV pulling in behind your car.

You froze, panic starting to build but when you noticed it was just Chris Argent stepping out of the car, you relaxed. Say what you will about the old man, but at least he didn’t give off the bad touch vibes you got from the other hunter. 

“I haven’t had any coffee yet, so please, save the over dramatic threats for later.” You sighed, crossing your arms over your chest as Chris just gave you a small smile. You noticed Stiles’s jeep was already gone so there was no one else left to witness this conversation, except for Miss Bagsley across the street, she saw everything. 

“There was another murder last night… you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?” You raised an eyebrow at Chris, trying to see if he was joking, but judging by the look he was giving you he wasn’t.

“You-- You’re serious? You’re coming to me for help?” You couldn’t help it, you started to laugh which made Chris scowl, which in turn, made you laugh harder. “Oh my god… that’s-- That’s rich. How much did it hurt your pride having to come here? Please say a lot.” 

“I’m trying to stop a monster.” 

“See, I would believe that but you Argent’s can’t really differentiate between good and evil. You might be after the alpha now, but as soon as he is killed you would go after Derek and that isn’t going to happen.” You scowled at the man before turning to your car and unlocking it. 

You were about to open the door when it was slammed shut by Chris’s hand. You turned toward him, heart jumping at the close proximity but you didn’t move.

“We have a code. We don’t--”

“Kill werewolves unless they kill someone? I have 11 reasons why that is complete and utter bullshit.” You weren’t about to mention Derek too because then you would have to explain how he survived the wolfsbane bullet and there was no way you were going to implicate Scott in all this.

“For the last time, we didn’t star--”

“Yes, you did. You might not have lit the match but it was your family, and that’s good enough for me.” You stepped into the hunters space, eyes glaring daggers at him. “You say you just want the alpha, that you only kill the bad werewolves.. Well guess what? Derek isn’t the alpha and he is the last Hale left, I won’t let your family kill him too. Stay the hell away from Derek, and stay the hell away from me. We aren’t the ones murdering innocent people.”

“So this ‘we’…” Chris eyed you as if you were a puzzle he couldn’t quite put together. “Does that include the other beta too?”

“What.” You really needed to stop hanging around Derek, you were losing your ability to ask a question.

“The young one, the alpha’s beta.. You know who it is don’t you?” You didn’t say anything, but that was enough for Chris to smile at you. 

“They are innocent too.” You said to Chris’s back as he turned around. 

The hunter just turned around, giving you a small way before climbing in the SUV and pulling out of your driveway. You cursed, kicking your tire in anger which had your toe throbbing through your boots. You quickly checked the time, noticing you were going to miss your first period all together, and mourning the fact you didn’t even get your coffee.

\--

You barely made it to Harris’s class on time, skirting in as the bell rang. He eyed you with disdain the whole way to your seat. Danny gave you a once over before giving you an exaggerated wink which had you snickering.

You rolled your eyes as Harris started talking. “Just a friendly reminder, parent/teacher conferences are tonight. Students below a "C" average are required to attend. I won't name you, because the shame and self-disgust should be more than enough punishment.” 

You looked behind you to see Stiles, eyeing you with a frown. You mouthed ‘later’ and he just shook his head. You also noticed Scott wasn’t here. You cut your eyes to his seat in front of you then back to Stiles who just shrugged his shoulders.

“Miss Y/L/N, it seems one of your boyfriends isn’t here.” The whole class giggled as you and Stiles glared at Harris. “Where is Mr. McCall?” You were about to come up with some excuse but before you could the door opened revealing Jackson.

“Jackson, if you need to Ieave early for any reason, you Iet me know.” You frowned toward Jackson, noticing how shook up he seemed. “Everyone, start reading chapter nine. Mr.Stilinski, try putting the highlighter down between paragraphs. It's chemistry, not a coloring book.” You turned back to look at Stiles who still had the highlighter cap in his mouth but was frowning around it at Harris. 

You patted his arm sympathetically before opening your book.

“Hey, Danny, can I ask you a question?” Stiles hissed and you just laughed as Danny said no. “Well, I'm going to anyway. Um, did Lydia show up in your homeroom today?” You gave Stiles a sideways look as Danny sighed.

“No.” 

Stiles leaned up to be closer to you and Danny. “Can I ask you another question?”

“Answers still no.” 

“Does anyone know what happened to her and Jackson Iast night?” You frowned at Danny before turning to look at Jackson. Something was definitely wrong, you could tell. 

“He wouldn't tell me.”

“But he's your best friend… Okay, one more question. Do you find me attractive?” 

You froze in your seat, eyes going wide as did Danny. You and him turned toward Stiles at the same time to see a bright blush adorn his cheeks. You snickered to yourself as Danny eyed Stiles up and down, causing him to fall off the chair he was leaning on. 

You were going to have to work with him on his flirting.

\--- 

You were blissfully aware of Stiles’s panic over Scott being absent, especially since Scott texted Stiles about how him and Derek saw the crime scene last night. You were beyond pissed that Derek ignored your suggestion to stay and sleep but instead chose to ninja his way out of your house. 

You caught sight of Jackson out of the corner of your eye most of the day and he looked lost. You made the split second decision to corner him and ask him what was going on when Ryan came out of the locker room.

“Hey is Jackson still in there?” You asked and he gave you a smile and said yeah. 

You thanked him quickly, looking both ways to make sure no one saw you before slipping into the boys locker room. You averted your eyes at the sight of two freshman changing and continued to walk toward the back where Jackson’s locker was.

“Jackson.” You said, casually turning the corner to see him jump in surprise in nothing but a towel. 

“Shit, Y/L/N.. Don’t do that.” He hissed, slamming his locker shut before turning to you. You gave him a tiny smirk which made him laugh a little. 

You never got used to the small private smile he gives when it was just you and him. 

“What brings you to the boys locker room Y/N?” He asked, smirk back in place as he closed the distance to you. 

You were painfully aware he was in nothing but a towel, and as much as you thought about just saying yes as a distraction for the morning you’ve had, you put your hand on his chest so he couldn’t crowd you against the locker.

“Not that.” Jackson’s smirk slowly fell away as he rolled his eyes. You were about to ask him what he saw when a small clang came from the shower causing you both to jump.

You looked through the steam, but you didn’t see anything until you did. Two red pinpricks started to glow and you felt Jackson tense up in front of you. You grabbed his arm, trying to form a sentence but nothing was happening, instead you just tugged him back to you and toward the door. 

You were about to run for it when the glowing eyes got closer, then you realized they weren’t eyes at all. They were glowing headphones that Carter was wearing. 

“Really Whittemore? Y/L/N? In the showers?” You felt your body relax as you gave Carter Grayson the finger. 

You had a moment to gather your thoughts, then it hit you that Jackson had been scared too. Why would he be scared of red eyes unless he knew what they meant. 

“Jackson, what hap--”

You were cut off by the sound of Jackson’s tiny yelp as he banged against the locker. When you turned around, you noticed why. Derek was there, glaring in his true murderous fashion, looking between you and Jackson.

“I don't know where Scott is.” He said automatically and you gave Jackson a funny look.

“I'm not here for Scott. I'm here for you.” You were about to interrupt but Jackson’s fear was making you wonder if they knew each other.

“Why me? I didn't do anything.” 

Derek gave him a small smile, that was more terrifying than Chris’s. “No, but you saw something, didn't you?”

“No, I didn't I didn't see anything.” You were fixing to grab Derek, make him stop but you had a feeling that wouldn’t go over well.

“What was it, hmm? An animal? A mountain Iion?” You frowned between the pair, eyes going back at forth like a tennis match.

“I didn't see anything. I swear. I'm--I’m not Iying.”

“Then calm down and say it again.” Derek was right in front of Jackson, and you could see the sweat forming on his forehead.

“Say what? That I'm not Iying?”

“Tell me that you didn't see anything. SIowly.”

Silence hung in the air as Jackson took a deep breath, before looking Derek in the eye. “I didn't see anything. I'm not Iying.”

You watched as Derek narrowed his eyes toward Jackson, happy with what he heard. You reached for Derek when he put a hand toward Jackson, but stopped when you noticed the back of his neck had three distinct puncture wounds.

Like from claws. “One more thing. You should really get that checked out.” 

Derek left Jackson a blubbering mess, and in other circumstances, you would applaud, but instead you followed Derek away from Jackson and pushed him into Coach’s office.

“What the fuck was that?! Were those claw marks yours?” Derek rolled his eyes but had the decency to look away from you while doing it. “Oh my god, they were. Why--”

“It was yesterday when I was poisoned. I came looking for you or Scott and he smelled like him from lacrosse practice so I asked where he was and he was being a little shit so I.. persuaded him to tell me.” It was your turn to roll your eyes.

“He’s always a little shit.” You said, smacking Derek on the shoulder. “But you can’t go around assaulting people Derek, especially high schoolers whose father is a district attorney.” 

“I wasn’t exactly thinking straight.” Derek snarled, coming to stand closer to you then froze, eyes going blue. 

“What? Why are you looking at me like th--”

“Why do you smell like hunters.” You rolled your eyes at his lack of question mark before picking up the collar to your shirt and sniffing. 

You smelt nothing but your own coconut perfume. “Because Chris Argent paid me a visit before school this morning.” 

That had Derek’s eyes flaring, and you could see in his head where he was going. “Hey, no. I’m fine okay, it was just him and he just wanted my help.”

“You’re help with what.” Derek’s eyes were still tinged blue but you calmed down at the fact he wasn’t he wasn’t going to go off and threaten the hunters. You had enough problems to worry about.

“He wants to know who the alpha and the other beta is, and he thinks I know. Well I know, he knows, that I know who the other beta is but he thinks I know who the alpha is, but I don’t.” Derek’s eyebrows were doing the same complicated frowny face as yesterday before smoothing out.

“And let me guess, you told him some form of go to hell.” You gave him a blinding smile, patting him on the shoulder.

“You know me so well, Derbear.” Derek scowled at the nickname as the bell rang signaling the end of the day. “Look don’t worry about me and the hunters, I’m fine. You just worry about the alpha.. And Scott.” 

Derek exhaled loudly, code for I’m-not-happy-about-this-arrangement-at-all before nodding and walking away. You watched as he retreated without a word.

“Well bye to you too.” You said, quickly making your way out of the locker rooms and catching Stiles who was on the phone.

“Finally! Have you been getting any of my texts?” You raised an eyebrow as Stiles mouthed ‘Scott’.

“Do you have any idea what's going on? Lydia is totally M-I-A, Jackson Iooks Iike he's got a time-bomb inserted into his face, another random guy's dead, and you have to do something about it.” You frowned at Stiles who just held his phone away from his ear. “He just hung up on me.”

“Well Jackson’s probably angry because Derek just paid him a visit and scared the bejesus out of him.” You said, walking toward your car. 

“What? Why?” 

“Because he wanted to know what he saw last night. Jackson said nothing.” You shrugged, acting like that was a normal thing.

Stiles eyed your suspiciously. “And you know this how?”

“Because I went looking for him in the locker room to ask him if he was okay and witnessed the whole thing.. Then yelled at Derek for scaring him.” 

“You just yelled at Derek?” You shrugged again. 

“It’s no big deal, he was just trying to get answers. What has Scott been doing all day anyway? I noticed Allison wasn’t here either. Were they playing hookie?” You asked, wiggling your eyebrows as you leaned against your car. 

“Yeah, apparently it was her birthday and she was upset because she’s 17.” You raised an eye at that but just shrugged. 

“Probably because she moved around a lot, her parents being hunters and all.” 

“Yeah, I doubt it was for the same reason as you Miss refused-to-go-to-Kindergarden because I couldn’t go yet.” 

“And now, 12 years laters, I’m regretting my decision.” You stuck your tongue out at Stiles who only laughed.

“Uh huh, you going to tell me why you were a no show in first or am I just going to have to guess?” You frowned, looking at your keys, running your hand over the small friendship bracelet you had tied to it.

“Chris Argent paid me a visit, wanting to know who the alpha and the other beta is.” Stiles didn’t say anything, just glared at the School before turning back to you.

“Are you alright?” You gave him a small smile, brushing the air slightly.

“It was nothing. I’m fine. No need to worry, okay?” You eyed Stiles, hoping he would believe you but the skeptical look told you he didn’t.

“I’m going to stop by Lydia’s before I head home, you want to come?” 

You didn’t even bother to respond. You left Stiles with just a laugh. 

\----

You had every intention of going home, but you found yourself pulling into the old Hale house. You noticed the camaro wasn’t in sight, but that didn’t stop you from parking the car. It had been awhile since you ran, and you felt like a nice jog might calm some of your nerves so you changed into a pair of shorts and tshirt in the car, swapping out your boots for a pair of tennis shoes, before pulling your hair up.

You got out of the car, stretching each hamstring until you felt loose. You reached for your headphones but before you grabbed them, you heard a rustle from the woods in front of the house. You started to hear voices, but couldn’t make out who it was. 

You didn’t think twice before running toward the Hale house and closing the door carefully behind you. You moved quietly to the window, seeing what you feared you would. Luca, the big tree looking hunter, Nathan, and a blonde woman, who you guessed was Kate, coming up the hill. 

“Shit.” You mumbled at the same time you heard a thud from behind you. You jumped, suppressing a scream as you glared at Derek. “I should put a bell on you.” You hissed, turning back toward the window.

“This is my house.” He reminded you, coming to stand by the window. You noticed him tense beside you, and you looked up to see a blank expression on his face. You also noticed he wasn’t wearing a shirt. 

Lovely.

“You need to get out of here.” You said, pushing Derek lightly away from the window. 

“No, you need to get out of here.” You took one look at the window and saw Luca circling your car. 

“It’s too late, Luca knows I’m here, but they don’t know you are. Hide.” You said, pushing Derek harder but he wouldn’t move. 

“I’m not going to hide in my own house.” He said, eyes turning blue as you both heard footsteps on the porch. 

“If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for me.” You said, pushing him one more time as hard as you could. “Please.” You begged, eyes wide with fear as the door knob turned. 

Derek growled once, fangs snapping toward the door but finally moving. He seemed to melt into the shadows just as the door opened and the three hunters walked in. You hid behind the wall, not trying to conceal yourself completely.

“No one home?” Nathan asked, eyes roaming around the entrance but Kate just tsked.

“Oh, he's here. He's just not feeling particularly hospitable.”

“Maybe he's out burying a bone in the backyard.” Luca snickered. 

“Really? A dog joke? We're going there, and that's the best you got? If you wanna provoke him, say something Iike, "Too bad your sister 'bit it' before she had her first Iitter. Too bad she howled Iike a bitch when we cut her in half!” You heard Derek’s murderous growl but before he could pop out from his shadow you turned the corner.

“This is private property.” You said, eyeing the threesome who now had there guns on you. Although, Luca lowered his when he noticed it was you.

“Aw, if it isn’t my wolf girl, still standing up for the mutt I see.” You scowled at Luca who just grinned, but the most interesting look was the one Kate was giving you. 

Her smile made your skin crawl as her eyes drank you in. “Oh, she’s pretty Der.” 

All it took was one step toward you from Her to have Derek coming out of the shadows, growling. 

“She has nothing to do with this Kate.” Derek said between fangs, coming to stand in front of you but you wouldn’t let him. The guns seemed to follow Derek, so as long as you were in front of them, they wouldn’t shoot. 

Or, you were counting on them not to shoot.

“Wow. This one grew up in all the right places.” Kate smiled at Derek, eyes raking over his unclothed torso and you had the sudden urge to wrap Derek in a blanket so she couldn’t see. 

Kate let loose a threatening baton that looked more like a lightsaber than stun gun and you felt Derek stiffen behind you. Everything happened so fast as Derek pushed you out of the way so he could get to Kate and the others.

It would have worked if Luca had any interest in Derek, but his focus was solely on you. You quickly got to your feet, posed to run but Luca was too fast. He abandoned the gun at his side and grabbed your shirt, pulling you into the wall. 

You heard growls behind you, Nathan yelling, but all you saw was black dots as your head hit the wall with a thud. You struggled to get out of Luca’s grip, elbow connecting with his jaw, but the pain didn’t seem to faze him this time.

“You like it rough wolf girl, that can be arranged.” He purred, hands grabbing the back of your hair and snapping your head back and to the side so your throat was exposed. 

You huffed as you tried to knee him anywhere that would stick, but Luca’s body was too close to yours. 

“Fuck!” You groaned as teeth found your neck, biting hard enough for you to cry out. You swung another elbow but connected with air as Luca was ripped off you by a snarling Derek.

You sunk down the wall, eyes still seeing spots as you held a hand to your neck. You’re hands came tinged in red, and you sighed putting pressure on it.

“Derek, look out..” You said through pants, but Derek wasn’t fast enough to escape the jab from Kate’s baton. “No. Don’t.” You tried to stand up as Derek’s body convulsed with electricity.

“I don't know whether to kill it or Iick it.” Kate smirked, circling Derek like a lion who just found it’s kill.

“Gross.” You said, using the wall to help you up the best you could. “You’re like 50.” 

Kates head snapped up to you, eyes calculating before she zapped Derek again in retaliation.

“You never were good with electricity, were you? Or fire.” Derek was trying to get away from her, crawling, as she chuckled. 

You took one step toward him, but Kate just held the baton and sparked it. 

“Ah ah, a werewolf can heal.. But a human? Well let’s just say I don’t know if your body could take it.” You froze, eyes going between Derek and the psychopath hovering over him.

“I'm gonna Iet you in on a Iittle secret, Der. And, well, maybe we can help each other out. Yes, your sister was severed into pieces and used as bait to try to catch you. Unpleasant, and frankly, a Iittle too Texas Chainsaw massacre for my taste, but quite true.” 

You honestly didn’t care at this point, a thousand volts was better than hearing this bitch talk about Laura but when you took a step toward Kate, Luca pinned you in his arms. 

“Let me go!” You snarled, thrashing around but the pain in your neck and throbbing in your head wasn’t going to get you out of his hold.

“Let her go. Kate… please.” Derek begged, struggling to breath as Kate zapped him again. 

You flinched unable to look anymore.

“Now, here's the part that might really kick you in your balls.” Kate drawled on, ignoring Derek completely. “We didn't kill her.” You narrowed your eyes at Kate, just like Derek. “You think I'm Iying?”

“Wouldn't be the first time.”

“Sweetie, well, why don't you just Iisten to my heart and tell me if I am. Okay?” Kate leaned over Derek and you finally stopped struggling in Luca’s grip. “ We didn't kill your sister. Do you hear that? There's no blips or upticks. Just the steady beat of the cold, hard truth.”

Derek already knew this and so did you.

“Found bite marks on your sister's body, Derek. What do you think did that? A mountain Iion? Why aren't we helping each other out? You might as well admit what you've been guessing all along, which is, the AIpha killed your sister. And all you have to do is tell us who he is, and we'II take care of it for you. Problem solved, everybody goes home happy.”

“Except for the 11 people you murdered in cold blood.” You said, eyes glaring at Kate who grinned like a cheshire cat. 

“You told her Der? I’m impressed.. She must really be something special for you to let her in on our little secret.” You froze, eyes moving from Kate to Derek, because, what?

You’re head was throbbing, trying to piece things together but you couldn’t. You just figured she was in on it, just like Chris, and she wasn’t even denying it. That made your blood run cold.

“And you think he’s a monster?” You asked, starting to struggle again but Luca’s lips on your ear made you stop.

“Settle down wolf girl or I’ll have to take you upstairs.” You shivered in his grip as Derek’s half hearted growl rang through the room. “What, wolfy? Don’t like others touching what is yours?” 

“She’s not mine.” Derek huffed, still panting as he lay on the floor, glaring at kate. “She’s not anyone's. She’s not apart of this.”

Kate tsked again, shocking Derek despite your protests. 

“I’m only going to ask one more time, who is the alpha?” Derek snarled at her, refusing to answer but you broke as soon as you saw her spark the baton.

“We don’t know okay!” You yelled, trying one more time to get out of Luca’s grip. “We don’t know, please.. Kate.. stop.” You felt tears stinging the corners of your eyes as Derek tried to recover from the last jolt.

The woman frowned, crouching on her knees to look at Derek then back to you. “Hm...Guess who just became totally useless?” 

Derek gave you a serious look, but you saw him starting to breath easier. He gave you one nod, and you knew shit was fixing to go down. You threw your head back as hard as you could, connecting it with Luca’s face, causing him to let you go out of shock.

You wasted no time in running, even if your vision was swirling. You jumped over loose debris as the guns started going off behind you. Everything in your body was telling you to run, to go, but you stopped. You couldn’t leave Derek, you couldn--

“What are you doing. Run!” Derek growled, right behind you as he grabbed your arm and started dragging you away. 

You struggled to keep up, barely managing to jump off the back porch in time with Derek but once you got your feet on the solid ground of the preserve, you were off. You let all your years of training kick in and followed Derek step for step, right on his heels. 

You wondered for a second how you were keeping up so well, but figured it was due to the fact he was still struggling from the jump starts Kate gave him. You ran until your lungs ached, and then kept going. 

You didn’t know where you were in the preserve, only that you were nowhere near your usual paths. You didn’t know how long it was before Derek slowed, it could have been 10 minutes, it could have been 10 hours but when he stopped, you collapsed on the ground.

“Y/N?! Y/N?” Derek was over you, shaking you but you swatted him away, panting.

“Fuck!” You wheezed, blinking the black spots from your vision. “I’m fine-- Just-- Need-- Air.” 

Derek seemed to realize you were okay, because he collapsed next to you and let out a deep sigh. 

You laid like that, next to each other, for a good five minutes before he spoke up.

“You’re really fast.” You turned toward him, noticing he was looking at you and laughed. 

You’re life was ridiculous. There were hunters and werewolves and you almost just died, again, but you couldn’t stop laughing. Eventually your laughter was contagious and Derek started chuckling along with you. 

It was the first time you saw him laugh. Ever. It caught the laugh in your throat, eyes going wide as you stared up at him from where he was rising to his feet. 

He let the last laugh taper off, holding his hand out for you and you took it gratefully. “Where are we?”

“About 7 miles from the house.” 

“I think that was my best time yet.” You said, eyeing the sun setting on the tree line as Derek huffed. “Fuck, what time is it?” 

You turned toward Derek who pulled out an ancient flip phone. “Almost 7, why?” 

“Parent teacher conference is tonight.. I was supposed to meet Stiles to hang out while Scott was at them. He’s probably freaking out right now.” You were fixing to run a hand threw your hair when you noticed the blood stained on them. 

You frowned, trying to rub it away but it wouldn’t come off. You jumped when you felt Derek’s hand move your hair that was half out of your ponytail away from your neck. The pain hit you like a ton of bricks since the adrenal was wearing off.

You winced as Derek inspected the bite mark, growling lowly under his breath. “It’s okay, I’ll heal.”

You tried to push Derek’s hand away, but he just held on tighter. The pain became more intense and you were fixing to yell at him when it suddenly started to dull. You titled your head up, noticing his arm was covered in the same black veins he had yesterday after the bullet.

“Derek, wha?” You’re question died in your throat when he stepped away from you and the black veins disappeared, along with your pain. “How?”

“Werewolves can do more than heal themselves and flash their eyes.” 

“You forgot super strength. You can never forget super strength.” Derek’s eye rolls were starting become custom just for you, but you couldn’t find a fault in them.

“We should head back, Kate wouldn’t split up the others to search.” You eyed Derek, wondering if he was going to explain, but he didn’t instead he just started walking.

You were going to leave it alone. You were. Honestly.

But after mile 6 of stumbling around in the dark with Derek’s eyes leading the way, curiosity won out.

“So..”

“No.” Derek cut you off, stopping so abruptly you ran into his back with a humph.

“You don’t even know what I’m going to ask?” You grumbled, pushing away from him.

“Yes, I do, and no, I won’t tell you.” You pursed your lips, eyeing him the best you could in the dark. 

The only thing you could make out was blue though. 

“Fine, why are your eyes blue and Scott’s are gold?”

He growled low in his throat before turning around. “I’m not telling you that either.”

“Sharing is caring Derek.” You huffed, coming to walk beside him.

You faltered in your step, you foot catching on a low root but before you could tumble to your death, Derek grabbed you and put you up right.

“That’s why I said to stay behind me.” You rolled your eyes, mumbling curse words under your breath at him. “I can hear you.”

“Maybe you should keep your ears to yourself then.” You snapped, crossing your arms over you chest and shivering, but still following behind him with heavier footsteps so he knew you weren’t happy.

The last mile went by in a flurry of angry footsteps and petulant huffs, coming from both you and Derek. You were fixing to snap at him that he had no reason to be angry, but didn’t when you finally saw the house. 

You ran past Derek and straight for your phone in your car. Unlocking it you realized you had 3 missed calls from Stiles, 6 texts, and one missed call from the sheriff.

“Fuck, I’m so dead.” You mumbled, texting Stiles back that you were on the way and would explain later. 

You grabbed your keys, turning on your car and illuminating the yard for you to see. 

“You know you can’t stay here, right?” You said, looking at Derek who was eyeing his house. “The hunters will come back.” 

“I’ll figure it out.” You rolled your eyes, before slamming your door and walking to him. 

“Look, Derek.. Yes I’m mad that you won’t tell me what that psychopath was talking about or answer any of my many, many, other questions.. But you aren’t in this alone. Whether you like it or not, I’m going to try my best to keep your fuzzy ass alive.” You gave Derek a swift pat on the back before turning back around to your car. 

One word had you stopping dead in your tracks, “Why.”

Derek sounded so vulnerable, and one look at his face had you turning back around to stare at the car. There was a lot of ways you could answer him, and each one would probably make him angry. The least helpful option to to with being—idk bro, my gut, soul, inner spiritual being totally trusts you with my life. So you lied. Sort of.

“My dad used to quote the Dalai Lama all the time while I was growing up. He always said our prime purpose in life was to help others, and if you couldn’t help them, at least don’t hurt them. It was why he became a deputy. To help people. Right wrongs… it’s engrained in my DNA.” You took a moment before walking to the car and opening the door. “You know where the window is if you need it.”

You closed the door and started the car to head home, and when you backed out and was on the road, the only thing you saw was two blue pinpricks in the rearview mirror.


	6. Heart Moniter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N keeps up her attempts to get Derek to open up as Stiles tries to teach Scott control.

Your night once you got home past rather quickly. Stiles yelled at you. A lot. Then he worried about you. A lot. By the time 9 o’clock rolled around, you were ready for bed.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?” Stiles asked for the hundredth time in the last couple of hours.

You just gave him a withering glare as your finger toyed with the bandage you placed over the bite. “For the last time, it’s fine. It looks worse than it is.”

“What kind of person bites someone..” Stiles fumed, typing harder than necessary on his laptop and you went back to looking over the police files from the Hale fire and the fire department.

“Wolves bite to claim someone as theirs.” You said absentmindedly, eyes roaming over the report. You looked up to see Stiles staring at you weirdly. “What, I researched the shit out of wolves.” You kindly left off that the only reason Luca bit you was a fuck you to Derek.

Stiles gave you a small smile, before rolling his chair over to you. “The fire report says it’s an accident.. But it wasn’t.”

You shook your head no. “Kate Argent set the fire, she pretty much came right out and said it before she shot at me and Derek.”

You looked over the report of a blonde woman asking about chemicals but could never be confirmed as connected to the fire. You knew something else happened, something Derek wouldn’t say, but you didn’t want to push. His face when Kate was torturing him was enough to know it was bad.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Stiles said, scooting you over so he could sit beside you.

“You and me both, I mean who is going to teach you how to flirt with Danny if I die?” Stiles almost fell off the bed with a squawk.

“Wha? Flirting with Danny? No no no no no, me? Nope. That didn’t happen.” You just gave him a sly look which earned you a punch to the arm.

You retaliated by hitting him in the face with a pillow. “Hey! I’m injured, show some respect.”

Stiles sat back in his chair as his phone went off, chuckling before rolling back over to the desk where his phone was still ringing.

“Hey daddio, what’s--” You looked at Stiles where he stopped talking, to see his face turning white.

“Stiles…” You felt your heart sink, knowing that look on your best friends face only meant one thing. The sheriff was hurt.

“Yeah.. yeah dad. I’m-- Okay, but--” Stiles sighed, running a hand over his face. “Okay. I love you too. I will. Y/N’s here.. Yeah. I’ll tell her.”

You let out the breathe you didn’t know you were holding, standing up to go to Stiles who was cursing and picking up his wallet and keys.

“Stiles, hey hey.. What happened?” You said, catching him by the shirt making him stop.

“Dad.. he’s fine, but he got bumped by a car when a damn mountain lion crashed the parent-teacher conference.” You scrunched up your nose but Stiles kept on babbling. “Shit, he said not to come to the hospital but--”

“No, we’ll go, come on. I’ll drive.. Okay?” You carefully took the keys to the jeep out of your best friends hands and lead the way out of the house.

You made it down the steps when your phone started ringing. You froze, seeing your Aunt’s name pop up on the caller ID. You hadn’t heard anything from her in over a week, the last text saying she deposited a grand in your bank account to get you by since she was stuck at work.

“Shit, it’s Alicia.” Stiles patted you on the back, before grabbing the keys out of your hand despite your protest.

“Answer it, dad probably called her to tell her about the conference since she couldn’t bother to show up.” You grinned at Stiles’s tone, knowing how much he disliked your aunt. You couldn’t blame him though.

“I’ll call her back, your dad’s more import--”

“He’s fine and he’s just going to bitch at me for showing up after he said not too. I’m okay, really. I’ll text when I get there.” He gave you a quick hug, squeezing extra tight before making a quick escape.

You took a deep breath, watching him jump in the jeep and not so calmly drive off. Your phone stopped ringing but picked right back up again, so you put on a fake smile and pressed answer.

“Hey Alicia.. How’s Paris?” You asked, walking up to your own steps to go inside.

“ _Oh honey, it’s fantastic even if I’ve been so so busy. If I go back this Summer you have to come with okay? We can go shopping and try every restaurant we can_.” You rolled your eyes at her promises as you put your key in the door.

“Sounds fun. So what do I owe this call, you usually text?” You slammed the door shut before turning on your living room light. You jumped, dropping your phone when you saw Derek sitting on the sofa, eyes roaming over one of your books from school in the dark like an absolute creeper. “Holy shit!”

“ _Hunny, is everything okay? What was that?_ ” You glared at Derek’s smirk, quickly bending down and picking up your phone which hit the floor with a thud.

“Sorry, dropped my phone. About this call..” You left Derek in the living room, being his smug self, and made your way into the kitchen, turning on lights as you went.

“ _Oh, Noah just called to let me know the parent-teacher conference went well, even though I knew it would. You’re so smart, just like your mother_.” You paused, hand on the fridge as you gripped your phone tighter.

It was a struggle to get the words out. “Uh-- Uh, thanks.”

“ _Also, I just wanted to say my work trip got extended from here so they need me back in Boston. I went ahead and just put another grand in your account today okay? Will that be enough?”_ You felt your fingers becoming numb as the grip on your phone became tighter.

“It’s more than enough, you know I don’t--”

“ _I know sweetie, ugh, you are just so responsible. It’s why I’m so proud of you, but I just want to make sure you have enough. Look I have to go, I have a date with a cute french guy tonight. I’ll talk to you soon okay? Love you hunny. Be good. Byeeeee.”_

You just held your phone away from your ear as the call ended screen flashed, eyes rolling, before throwing the phone down on the counter with more force than necessary.

“You okay? You’re heart was doing that weird stumbling thing again.. And smelled--” You jumped again as Derek’s voice broke the silence of the kitchen.

You turned to him, finger pointed menacingly to his chest cutting him off. “I swear I will put a bell on you Hale. And stop monitoring my emotions, it’s creepy.”

“I can’t help what I smell Y/N.” You gave himq a dry look before plugging your nose sarcastically which had him scowl.

“So, I see you decided to take me up on my offer?” You backed away from him, trailing a finger over the kitchen counter, trying for nonchalant.

“For now.” Was all you got.

“Someone let loose a mountain lion at the parent teacher conference.”

“I heard.”

You raised an eyebrow toward him before you realized what he meant. “Eavesdrop much? How long were you listening?”

“Long enough for you to tell Stiles that Kate started the fire.” His face seemed angry, but his eyes looked more sad than anything.

“I don’t keep secrets from Stiles.. And he’s not going to tell his dad, even though I think we should.”

“I’m not going to have this argument again Y/N, we can’t--”

“Tell him because the hunters have a law of their own. I know Derek, trust me, we just got shot at and assaulted and can’t file a report on them because then we would have to explain why.. And I can’t very well tell Noah, oh by the way, werewolves exist.” You huffed angrily, reaching for the takeout drawer. “Just-- It’s been a long ass day. I just want to order chinese and watch some tv. You in?”

You reached inside picking up the menu from Happy Wok and turned toward Derek, holding out the menu for him to take. He hesitated for a minute before looking it over with a serious expression. You just reached above the fridge to the tiny cabinet that housed your dad’s old bottle of scotch.

You pulled out the nice bottle, along with two glasses all while ignoring Derek’s disapproving frown. After pouring some out, you held out the glass for him, wiggling it slightly so he would take it.

“You shouldn’t be drinking.” He said, taking the glass from you.

“And werewolves shouldn’t be real.” You raised the glass, trying for a toast but his frown just deepened.

You gulped down the strong shot, enjoying the burn, before turning back to the bottle but stopped when Derek grabbed your hand.

“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” He asked, and you jerked your hands away from him.

“Derek, you aren’t my father or legal guardian.. So shu--”

“Where is your legal guardian?” That had you shutting up as you scowled at him.

You pushed past him, jaring his shoulder which only hurt your own, leaving the scotch behind but not before grabbing your phone. Derek left you to fume for a couple of minutes before walking back into the living room with his glass of scotch. You pretended to ignore him as he sat on the same chair as last night, sipping on his drink. You didn’t miss his nose scrunch up at the taste.

“That’s 80 year old scotch, you don’t just turn your nose up at it.” You said, tucking your phone away and staring at Derek.

“I’m not much of a drinker.” He shrugged, taking another sip before putting it on the coffee table.

“Why?”

“Never appealed to me since werewolves can’t get drunk.”

You’re mouth hung open before you started to cackle wildly causing Derek to look at you funny.

“Oh my god, Scott is going to be pissed. He’ll never get to experience the joys of an all nighter or having a hangover.” Derek just rolled his eyes.

“Yes, such a bummer.” You hummed in agreement even if Derek was being sassy.

You pulled out your phone, dialing the number for Happy Wok. You thought maybe you should be embarrassed to have the restaurant saved in your contacts, but you just shrugged. There food was delicious.

“Do you know what you want?” You asked and he nodded.

You quickly made your order of shrimp lo mein for you, and the rest of the chinese menu for Derek. Mr. Chang probably thought you were throwing a party with how much food you just ordered.

“I’m going to get a shower, make yourself at home.” You said, standing up and going to the door where your purse was hanging. You pulled out your wallet and the wad of twenties before laying them on the counter. “Just tell Henry to keep the change.”

“Henry?” Derek called as you were on the stairs.

“Henry is the delivery guy for Mr. Chang, he’s like a grade or two above me.” You quickly turned around, pinning him with a meaningful stare. “Don’t be rude.”

You left him with the simple instruction but knowing Derek, he would be his usual scowly self and you would have to apologize come tomorrow since Henry is the one who delivers to your house at least three times a week.

You had the quickest shower of your life, not bothering to dry your hair and letting it air dry. You put on a pair of loose sweats that belonged to Stiles and one of his old t-shirts that hung off your shoulder since his were so broad.

You did a quick damage assessment of the wound Luca left, but after cleaning it up it looked like a hickey gone wrong at the base of your throat. The area was red, on its way to purple, and was a little swollen but it was nothing some triple antibiotic ointment couldn’t heal up.

You were just making your way down the stairs when the doorbell rang, but Derek was already opening it. Like always, Henry was standing there with a smile but you watched it fall when he saw it was Derek and not you.

“Uh… is.. Do I have the wrong house?” He frowned, reading the receipt as you hip checked Derek out of the way.

“Nope you have the right house.” You smiled, reaching around Derek for the money on the table.

“Oh Y/N, hey.” The boy was smiling at you, and you smiled back until his eyes started to roam south down your body.

“Hey Henry.” You said, voice clipped as you rolled your eyes.

Seriously, boys.

“Oh.. um. I didn’t realize you were seeing anyone.” He said, frowning at Derek and then at you.

You were fixing to tell him it wasn’t what it looked like, but Derek had ripped the cash from your grip and handed it over before reaching for the bags of food.

“Thanks, have a good night.” Derek said sarcastically before slamming the door and leaving you staring before hitting him on the shoulder.

“Seriously, what part of ‘don’t be rude’ did you not get?” You hissed, before opening the door back up to see Henry still frowning at the money in his hand. “Sorry about him, he was raised by wolves.” You threw a glare over your shoulder but Derek was already in the kitchen.

“Oh it’s fine. I-- uh. Let me get your change..”

“Nope, not necessary. It’s all yours.” You smiled, which made him smile again.

You noticed him hesitate, like he sometimes did, like he wanted to say something but instead he just said to have a good night. You frowned after him, watching him leave with a small wave, before shutting the door and following the smell of deliciousness into the kitchen.

“You know, it wouldn’t hurt to be nice to people. Haven’t you ever heard the expression you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar?” You grumbled, grabbing the carton of shrimp lo mein from the middle of the kitchen table and snagging two egg rolls, putting them on the plate Derek so graciously laid out.

“He was much more interested in being nice to you than to me.” He said before stuffing a dumpling in his mouth.

“Just because he was checking me out doesn’t mean he was interested.” You said flippantly, reaching over him for a pack of chopsticks.

You pointedly ignored his scoff.

Once you grabbed the chopsticks you pulled out a chair and sat down beside Derek. You stole one of his dumplings in retaliation for the comment.

“He’s a nice guy but I can’t exactly have a normal dating life. What am I supposed to talk about, the weather? I can’t go back to normal now that I know… all of this.” You gestured toward Derek with your chopsticks.

He made a non committal noise, but continued eating. You ignored him in favor of your food, and before long you were stuffed full of lo mein, eggrolls, and Derek’s dumplings he not-so-nicely shared with you.

“Just roll me to the couch.” You sighed dramatically, patting your stomach for emphasis as Derek’s lip twitched.

“Roll yourself.” He said, standing up to start putting the food away. It was oddly domestic.

You steered your thoughts away from that, far far away, like the other side of the globe, away. You glanced at the clock hanging on the wall above the kitchen table, noticing it was almost ten.

“I’m gonna go to bed, I have school in the morning.” You said, pausing a moment before picking up your plate.

You didn’t get very far because Derek took it from your hands saying, “I got it.”

You gave him a small smile before turning around to go to your room. You were curled up in bed, texting back and forth with Stiles about his dad. You tried texting Allison and Scott too, but got no reply, figuring they were both grounded you didn’t worry.

Your eyes started to droop, unable to keep them open anymore so you laid your phone on the nightstand and rolled over on your back to get comfy. You slowly started to drift to the sounds of footsteps in your house, it was oddly comforting after falling asleep to silence for so long.

\-----

Derek didn’t know what he was doing.

Seeing Kate after spending the last 6 years trying to push her face to the farthest part of his subconscious, trying to forget her predatory smile, her too sweet perfume, all the time spent trying to forget what he did with her, wasted as she just strolled up to his house like she did the night she burned it to the ground.

When he wasn’t trying to forget her, he was thinking of ways he would kill her. Rip her apart for taking everything he loved away from him, then he thought of his mother, and what she would do. She wouldn’t want him to live with this anger, this guilt, but he couldn’t stop it, and now without Laura, he doesn’t have anyone to remind him he had something to live for.

Anyone except the human girl he was matching his heartbeat to in the next room. He sighed, eyeing the clothes he wore for a brief moment the night before, daring him to just relax, but he couldn’t.

He made his way out of the house via his own window after making sure there was no trace of him there. The last thing he wanted was the alpha getting a whiff of him in her house. He almost got her killed today with hunters, he didn’t need to add the alpha to that list too. Although, knowing Y/N, she would gladly put herself in the line of fire.

It was one of the things that he hated about her. Her loyalty was admirable, but stupid. Even the hunters thought so and Derek was hard pressed not to agree with them. This wasn’t her fight, the hunters or the alpha. It was his, and now Scott’s whether he wants it to be or not.

Speaking of Scott.

Derek made his way to the camaro he had parked enough down the street so Y/N’s neighbors or the sheriff wouldn’t realize he was around. He rolled down the windows, driving toward Scott’s when he caught his scent leaving his house. He followed it easily, years of experience bringing him to the grocery store.

He realized Scott was in the store, so he waited. It didn’t take long maybe 10 minutes before he sniffed Scott coming from the elevator in the parking garage. He moved around the cars silently, eyes shifting so he could see better even if the parking structure was well lit.

Scott seemed to realize something was off right away, which Derek was secretly proud of. The young wolf started to look around, ears alert like he was trying to hear and Derek moved silently through the cars to maneuver his way behind Scott.

Scott was frowning, not moving as he sat the bags down and pulled out the key fob and hit the panic button. Derek realized he didn’t know which level he parked the car on, not that he was suspicious.

The moment of pride quickly left.

He watched as Scott heard the same thing he did, that his car was on the next level up, but before he could pick up the bags the small bottle of milk rolled out and right under the car two up from Derek.

Scott cursed, and Derek grabbed the bottle as it came to him, making sure to leave his claw imprints before rolling it back under the cars hard enough for Scott to get it back. Derek let a low growl come out and that kicked Scott into gear as he abandoned the groceries, running in the oppose direction.

Derek quickly followed, Scott was nowhere near as fast as him, actually he didn’t even think Scott was as fast as Y/N. The young werewolf was almost in his grasps, hiding behind a car when Scott decided to alert every person in the surrounding counties by running over the cars and making the alarms ring.

The proud moment may or may not have come back. Derek followed him, but with the sirens blaring he lost Scott’s heartbeat in all the noise. He slowed down from the run, instead pacing the cars as he tried to zero in on his scent instead.

Although he didn’t have to because Scott’s phone started to ring from three cars up making Derek grin.

He jumped on the car Scott was hiding on, grabbing the boy by both armpits and dragging him up and slamming him on the hood of the old impala.

“You're dead.”

Derek let him go, jumping down from the car and walking away.

“W-what the hell was that?” Scott screamed, arms flailing wildly as he caught up with Derek.

Derek just shrugged, continuing to walk toward the spot Scott left his groceries. “I said I was gonna teach you. I didn't say when.”

“You scared the crap out of me!”

“Not yet.”

“Okay, but I was fast, right?”

Derek just sighed, shaking his head. “Not fast enough.”

“But the car alarm thing, that was smart, right?”

“Till your phone rang.”

Scott grabbed him then. “Yeah, but that was--I mean--would you just stop? Please?” Derek did, turning to look at the boy. “What happened earlier tonight, Stiles' dad getting hurt, that was my fault. I should have been there to do something. I need you to teach me how to control this.”

Derek just looked at him, accessing his honesty. He knew Scott didn’t want to hurt anyone and Derek didn’t want him to hurt anyone either, but he also didn’t know how to teach him.

“Look, I am what I am because of birth. You were bitten. Teaching someone who was bitten takes time. I don't even know if I can teach you.” It was probably the most honest thing he’s said to Scott, and judging by the boys face he realized it too.

“What do I have to do?”

“ You have to get rid of distractions. You see this?” Derek asked, grabbing Scott’s phone from his hands. “This is why I caught you. You want me to teach you? Get rid of her.”

“What, just because of her family?”

Yes.

Derek wanted to say it so badly, because he knew what that family was capable of, more than anymore. Derek took a moment to just look at Scott, really look at him, and he was just so.. Young. And in love.

It was the most deadly combination.

Derek felt his fingers tightening on the phone before throwing it.

“Wait, wait, wait Whoa!” Scott said as the phone collided with the wall with a smash.

He knew he shouldn’t have done it, but Scott needed to understand. “You getting angry? That’s your first lesson, you wanna learn how to control this? How to shift? You do it through anger. By tapping into a primal animal rage, and you can't do that with her around.”

“I can get angry.” Scott growled, his eyes turning a little brighter.

“Not angry enough! This is the only way that I can teach you. Now, can you stay away from her?” Scott looked like he was torn. “At least until after the full moon?”

“If that's what it takes.” Derek growled, hearing his heart skip a beat.

“Do you want to Iive? Do you want to protect your friends? Stiles? ...Y/N?”

“Yes.” Scott said, eyes connecting with his. “If you can teach me, I can stay away from her.”

Derek just turned around, leaving the young werewolf alone after hearing his heart skip a beat for the second time.

\--

You woke up just like yesterday, but for once you were well rested. Actually, for the first time since you found out about werewolves, you slept through the night. But just like yesterday, you woke up with no traces of Derek.

Figures.

At least you made it to school in time for the first period and didn’t get accosted by hunters. It was a win. You just put your books in your locker when Allison’s sunshiney face made an appearance, causing you to jump a little.

“Hey, sorry I didn’t text you back.. I was. Uh a little busy last night.” By the blush on her cheeks you were guessing she wasn’t busy with homework.

“I am Scott’s best friend, so please.. No details.” You said, laughing as her blush deepened.

“It wasn’t like that..” Mhmm. “Okay it was almost like that, but then my Aunt kind of barged in the room so I had to hide him in my closet.”

You stopped, turning toward Allison, grabbing her and pulling her to the side of the hall. “You’re Aunt Kate? She didn’t see Scott right?”

Allison gave you a funny look before laughing. “Yeah.. how did you know her name? And no, she didn’t.”

You let out a deep breathe, trying to plaster on a smile as you let her go with a wave of your hand. “Oh, um, Scott mentioned she was in town. I’m glad you didn’t get caught.”

“Yeah, me too.” You started to turn around when Allison grabbed your hand. You saw Scott out of the corner of your eye make a sharp turn to avoid you both.

Weird.

“Are you okay? Lately it seems like you’re a million miles away at school?” You squeezed her hand before letting it drop.

“I just have a lot going on.. Home wise.” You added since she looked she was fixing to ask what. Instead she just nodded as if she understood.

“I get it. There seems to be this rift going on between my Aunt Kate and my dad, not like they’ll tell me what’s going on.” She said with an eye roll. “But if you ever want to talk, I’m here.. Okay?”

Your heart hurt at seeing her honesty. You couldn’t for the life of you connect how Kate and her were related. Maybe Allison was adopted, or a pod person, because for her to be born into such a sadistic family and not have one malicious bone in her body, it was too much of a coincidence.

Unless she was just a really good liar.

Nope-- not going there. You were not going to be like Derek and not trust anyone. Chris made it clear Allison doesn’t know, and even if she did, there was no way of knowing if she would choose the hunters over you and Scott.

“Thanks Ally.” You gave her one last smile before turning to go to class, her following with as she talked about skipping class with Scott yesterday and getting into trouble.

“Oh happy late birthday by the way.” You said as you took your seat next to Scott, but judging by Allison’s face she wasn’t happy.

“Not so loud.” She grumbled, looking around to see if anyone heard but no one did.

“I’m 17 too.” You replied, shrugging your shoulders as she cast you a surprised look. “I refused to go to kindergarten without Stiles, so my parents let me stay back.”

Allison just laughed, along with Stiles who had just sat down. “Oh yeah, she made a big show. She even went so far as tying herself to my bed, refusing to be moved.”

You swatted at Stiles, barely missing as he snickered in his seat.

“Aww that’s so cute, so you guys have been friends forever?” Allison asked, turning around in her seat so she could see Stiles too.

You stuck your tongue out at Stiles. “Unfortunately.”

“Aw don’t be like that.” Stiles reached across his desk toward you making a kissy face.

You grabbed his face and pushed him away. “My kisses are too good for you.”

“Yeah they are.” Jackson smirked as he came down the aisle, hitting Stiles with his book bag before taking his seat at the back of the class with Danny.

You turned around giving Jackson a sweet smile, flipping him off. “That applies to you too.”

Allison and Danny had the decency to cover their laugh, but Stiles, Greenburg, and Matt didn’t. You turned back around in your seat, fixing to talk to Allison again when Greenberg tapped you on the shoulder. You turned slightly to see him holding a note for you.

You raised an eyebrow, but Greenberg just shrugged and gestured toward Matt who was two seats behind Stiles. You were fixing to open you mouth when Scott came barreling in the classroom as the bell rang.

You watched as Stiles rolled his eyes before putting his pen in his mouth, gnawing on it angrily.

“Oh, come on! Still not talking to me?” Scott asked, turning in his seat to talk to Stiles. “Can you at Ieast tell me if your dad's okay? I mean, it's just a bruise, right? Some soft tissue damage? Nothing that big? You know I feel really bad about it, right?”

You sighed dramatically, earning a look of confusion from Scott and betrayal from Stiles. You knew how their fights usually went because it was as rare as a fight between you and Stiles, so you didn’t think twice about letting them sort it out on their own.

The fights you did worry about, was you and Scott. Those took at least 2 years off your lifespan and can only be sorted out by Stiles.

“Okay.” You rolled your eyes at Stiles petulant attitude, checking the clock to see what time it was.

“What if I told you that I'm trying to figure this whole thing out, and that I went to Derek for help?” That intrigued you enough to tune back in to their lovers quarrel.

“If I was talking to you, I'd say that you're an idiot for trusting him.” You grinned slyly, checking the clock again.

Not even one minute.

“But obviously I'm not talking to you.” Stiles added, and you groaned, letting your head hit your desk with a thunk. The bell rang just as Mr. Henderson came barreling in, looking frazzled and un-put together for the first time this year.

You waited another three minutes before curiosity got the better of Stiles. “What did he say?”

You grinned to yourself as Scott started to tell Stiles about Derek’s impromptu training session last night when he corned him in the parking garage after getting groceries. You only half listened to them out of annoyance at Derek leaving. Again.

As the bell rang you followed Scott and Stiles out of the class after sending Allison a smile as her and Lydia went to chemistry.

“He wants you to tap into your animal side and get angry.” You frowned as Stiles started to summarize parts of Scott’s story.

“Yep.”

“AII right, well, correct me if I'm wrong, but every time you do that, you try to kill someone, and that someone is usually me or Y/N.” You didn’t comment as you three made your way toward the lockers.

“I know. That's what he meant when he said he didn’t know if he can teach me, but I have to be able to control it.” You felt a moment of pride at Scott’s determination.

“Well, how's he gonna teach you to do that?” You asked, finally jumping into the conversation as you squeezed in between them to get to your locker.

“I don't know… I don't think he does either.”

You tried a different question then. “Okay. When are you seeing him again?”

“Just..let’s not talk about it. Just act normal and get through the day--”

“When?”

“He's picking me up at the animal clinic after work.” Scott’s scowl was proof he was indeed meeting Derek.

“After work.” Stiles mused, nodding to himself. “AII right, well, that gives me to the end of the school day then.”

“To do what?” You and Scott eyed Stiles suspiciously, wondering what that big giant brain of his was going to get you into next.

“To teach you myself.” He stated proudly as he grinned. Scott gave you a look that screamed abort mission, but you just patted him on the shoulder.

You didn’t know what Derek had planned for Scott, but you did know his scare-him-until-it-takes or get-him-hulk-level-angry was not going to cut it.

You went through the motions of the day, class after boring class, only taking good enough notes knowing you could grab Stiles’s at the end of the day and be okay. You were following along with Allison and Lydia to lunch since the curly brunette corned you and dragged you along because she had something interesting to tell you.

Lydia only gave you a side eye and said nothing. It was as close to a truce you two were going to get.

You quickly went through the line, grabbing the first thing that looked edible which was a burger plate with fries. Allison was rambling on about her history project, hardly letting you or Lydia get a word in, but it seemed to suit you both.

Which was weird for Lydia. You started to look at the strawberry blonde more closely. You noticed her makeup wasn’t as extreme as usual, the only amount that was heavily applied to her under eyes which still looked a little dark. You frowned at her, wondering if maybe she did see something at the attack at the video store that was keeping her up.

“The what of who?” Lydia asked, waving her fork around causing you to snap out of your thoughts and focus back in on Allison who had an old book in her hand.

“The beast of Gevaudan. Listen. A quadruped wolf-Iike monster, prowling the Auvergne and South Dordogne areas of France during the year 1764 to 1767. La Bete killed over 100 people, becoming so infamous that the King Louis XV sent one of his best hunters to try and kill it.”

You choked on the half eaten fry in your mouth as your stomach bottomed out. Allison gave you a look, patting your back lightly as you continued coughing.

“Boring.” Lydia gave Allison a sarcastic smile and a sneer for you as you gulped down your water. Trying to recover from your coughing fit.

"Even the church eventually declared the monster a messenger of Satan.”

“Hmm. Still boring.” You couldn’t speak, the only thing you could do was stare at the old book in Allison’s hands and try to keep your heart from beating out of your chest.

"Cryptozoologists believe it may have been a subspecies of hoofed predator, possibly a mesonychid.”

"SIipping-into-a-coma bored.”

"While others believe it was a powerful sorcerer who could shape-shift into a man-eating monster.”

"Any of this have anything to do with your actual family?” Lydia mused, rolling her eyes as she poked at her pineapples on the tray with her fork.

“This. It is believed that La Bete was finally trapped and killed by a renown hunter who claimed his wife and four children were the first to fall prey to the creature. His name was Argent.” You almost choked again, as Allison grinned maniacally between you and Lydia.

“Your ancestors killed a big wolf. So what?” Lydia’s unimpressed look wasn’t enough to deter Allison though, who looked like a kid on Christmas morning with her new found family legacy.

It was enough to make your stomach churn as you pushed the plate of food away.

“Not just a big wolf. Take a Iook at this picture.” Allison said, shoving it across the table so Lydia could look, but not before you caught a glimpse.

It was a big, shadow creature with piercing red eyes. You didn’t think for one second the story was false, and judging by the look of terror on Lydia’s, she didn’t either.

“What does it Iook Iike to you?….Lydia? Lydia.”

“It Iooks Iike a Big.Wolf.” Lydia snapped, gathering her things and her try as she plastered on a fake smile for Allison. “See you in History.”

You’re stomach was still churning as Allison slid the book over to you.

“And what about you? What do you think it looks like?” You removed your hands from the table, trying to hide how bad they were trembling as you looked at the picture in the book.

You had no doubt. None. It was a werewolf. The book Allison was raving about all the way to lunch, about her family history, was about the first werewolf being hunted down by one of her great times 10 grandfather. You stared at the creature, it’s blood red eyes staring back at you.

“A monster.” You faintly remembered packing up your belongs and heading toward the door, ignoring Allison and Stiles’s call of your name.

You hid in a bathroom stall, trying to get your breathing in check for a whole period. You texted Stiles and Scott saying you were fine. Allison too, who sent you at least fifteen worried texts. It was a struggle to reply to hers though, afraid of what you might say.

Hearing how excited she was about the beast, about her family hunting it down and saving the small town in France, you were slowly starting to come to the same conclusion Derek did. The Argent family couldn’t be trusted.

You finally pushed your way out of the stall when the bell signaling your free period rang, and before you could go toward the locker rooms you got a text from Stiles saying to meet you on the lacrosse pitch.

You stared forlornly at the aquatic center, before turning to go to the double doors that led outside. You nodded to a couple of classmates on your way out, but before you got too far a hand grabbed your arm.

You flinched at the contact, but your senses kicked in enough to smack the hand away and shove whoever grabbed you. You almost took a swing before your realized it was someone you knew.

“Hey, sorry.. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Matt said, holding up his hands with a chuckle.

You took a deep breath, trying to plaster on a smile but you couldn’t really muster it. “Um, yeah. Sorry.. What’s up?”

“Well, you never replied back to my note.. So I thought I’d ask in person. Do you want to grab a bite to eat after the game Friday?” You paused, shoulders relaxing some as you stared at Matt, confused.

You looked around, but no one else was there. “Uh.. what? Me?”

“Yeah.. you.” His smile got even bigger as he took a step forward, his pale grey eyes shining.

You faltered, taking a step back which slowly made his smile disappear. “I-- um-- I have a--”

“Oh, no, it’s totally cool.. I didn’t realize you and that dude were together. But um. Yeah. I’m just gonna-” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Go. I’ll see you in class.”

He was gone as quickly as he appeared, and you frowned at the double doors before turning around slowly. You hurried to lacrosse field, still confused, but tried to hide it when you noticed Stiles attempting to put a heart monitor on Scott.

“Isn't this one of the heart rate monitors for the cross country team?” You asked, plucking the device from Stiles’s hand.

“Yeah, I borrowed it.” Stiles waived dismissively, snatching it back as Scott snorted.

“Stole it.”

“Temporarily misappropriated.” Stiles corrected. “Coach uses it to monitor his heart rate with his phone while he jogs, and you're gonna wear it for the rest of the day.”

You gave Stiles a dry look before pointing toward his hand. “Isn't that Coach's phone?”

“That, I stole.” You raked a hand down your face before shrugging. It was no use really.

You ignored Scott’s question of why, and climbed onto the bleachers, deciding to watch the train wreck that was fixing to happen.

“AII right, well, your heart rate goes up when you go wolf, right? When you're playing Iacrosse, when you're with AIIison, whenever you get angry so.. maybe Iearning to control it is tied to Iearning to control your heart rate.”

“Like The Incredible Hulk.”

“Kind of Iike The Incredible Hulk, yeah.”

“No, I'm Iike The Incredible Hulk--” Stiles’s eyeroll matched your own.

“Would you shut up and put the strap on?” You were going to make a joke, but you decided to let it go in favor of watching Stiles duct tape Scott’s arms behind his back.

You didn’t mention that Scott could easily break free because you wanted to see what was fixing to happen.

“This isn't exactly how I wanted to spend my free period.” Scott called, walking backwards away from Stiles.

“AII right. You ready?”

“No.”

“Remember, don't get angry.” You leaned up on your knees, grinning for the first time since you left lunch as you watched Stiles scoop up a lacrosse ball.

You cackled as Stiles’s hit Scott with the ball directly in the shoulder.

“I'm starting to think this was a really bad idea.” Scott groaned just as another ball hit him square in the stomach. “Oh! Okay, that one kind of hurt.”

“Quiet. Remember, you're supposed to be thinking about your heart rate, all right? About staying calm.” You giggled, jumping up from your spot on the bleachers and joining Stiles. You gestured for the stick, smiling as Stiles handed it over.

“Stay calm. Staying calm. Staying totally calm.” You scooped up the lacrosse ball, eyeing Scott innocently before throwing it as hard as you could. “There's no balls flying at my face--Son of a bitch!”

You grinned as the hit connected with his collar bone. “You know what? I think my aim is actually improving.”

“Wonder why.” Scott scowled at you but you just shrugged and handed the lacrosse stick back to Stiles so he could continue with his punishment.

You made yourself comfy beside him on the ground, grabbing Coach’s phone so you could keep track of Scott’s heart rate as Stiles hit him a couple more times.

“Ah, buh, buh. Don't get angry.” Stiles said after a particularly rough hit to the side of Scott’s face.

“I'm not getting angry.” Scott’s voice was getting growly as the phone started to beep more and more closer together. “Stop--Just wait”

“Stiles..” You warned as the beeping started to become more rapid. You winced as Scott groaned at the last hit that landed in his lower stomach.

The phone was going crazy now as you slowly started to get to your feet.

“Scott?” Stiles was hesitant as he approached, signaling for you to stay back.

You watched as Scott sank to the ground, hands breaking the duct tape as his fingers dug into the ground. His breathing was loud as you ran up to Stiles, fixing to pull him away when the heart monitor finally started to slow its beeping.

You sighed heavily, slipping the phone in your pocket. “Scott, you started to change.”

“From anger. But it was more than that. It was Iike, the angrier I got, the stronger I felt.” Scott was still breathing deeply when Stiles offered his hand to help him up.

“So it is anger, then.” You said, lips tight as you winced at the cut above Scott’s eybrow where the last ball landed. Just as you were fixing to reach out and check it, the wound healed up.

“Derek's right.” Scott said between pants. “I can't be around AIIison.”

“Just because she makes you happy?”

“No, because she makes me weak.” You didn’t know what to say so you just gave him a tight hug.

“AII right, so you stay away from her for a few days. You can do that.” Stiles was trying to lighten the mood but it didn’t seem to be working.

“But is it a few days, or is it forever?” You tsked at Scott, pulling away from him,

“No. You know, this whole "women make you weak" thing is a Iittle too Spartan warrior for me. It's just part of the learning process. We’ll figure it out.” You grinned, slapping Scott on the shoulder.

“Yeah, but you've seen Derek. I mean, the guy's totally alone..What if I can, Iike, never be around her again?”

“Well, if you're not dead, that could be a good thing.” Stiles, ever the optimist.

“I'd rather be dead.” Okay, now this was getting to be to Romeo and Juliet for you, and you let it be known by scowling at Scott.

“You're not gonna end up Iike Derek, all right? We'II figure it out.” Stiles promised, grabbing his bag and lacrosse stick before swinging his arm over Scott’s shoulder and leading him back toward the school.

You were fixing to follow when you heard rustling from edge of the woods. You froze, eyes immediately going to the trees, searching for something but saw nothing. No flash of blue, no flash of red, and no hunters.

You still felt like something was there though.

“Derek?” You watched, waited, but nothing happened. You huffed, rolling your eyes, and turned around.

You were being too paranoid.

You made your way inside, figuring the boys were still in the locker room, you decided to just go to the library to finish out your free period. You didn’t make it though, turning back the corner quickly so Jackson and Allison wouldn’t spot you.

They looked like they were having a pretty honest conversation, which ended with Allison all dimpled and Jackson actually smiling. You frowned at the pair. Jackson had been acting weird since the video game store and so had Lydia.

You watched the pair till the bell rang, wishing you had Scott’s super hearing so you could’ve heard what they were saying. You quickly grabbed your economics book from your locker, keeping an eye out for the boys, as you made your way to Coach’s class.

You came in the room to see Scott and Stiles already in, and Allison too. It looked like Stiles was trying to take her usual seat but failed in doing so. You hurried into the room, sitting down in your seat behind Stiles.

“Alright settle down!” Coach Finstock yelled, slamming the econ book on the table.”Let’s start with a quick summary of Iast night's reading.”

“Greenberg, put your hand down. Everybody knows you did the reading.” You hid your smile as Greenburg slowly returned his hand from the air. “How about, uh McCall.”

“What?” Scott asked and you silently winced. Scott was never the best student, that was always Stiles and behind him, you. So you knew Scott didn’t do the reading.

“Last night's reading?” Scott was fumbling in the econ book, eyes wide, as Coach just continued on. “How about the reading of The Gettysburg Address?”

“What?”

“That's sarcasm. You familiar with the term "Sarcasm,” McCall?” Scott turned in his seat to eye you and Stiles with a look before turning back around to Coach.

“Very.”

“Did you do the reading or not?”

“Um -I think I forgot.” You winced again.

“Nice work, McCall. It's not Iike you're not averaging a "D" in this class. Come on, buddy. You know I can't keep you on the team if you have a D.”

You were frowning at Coach, fixing to say something to him when you felt your phone vibrate. You pulled it out, only to realize you still had Coach’s phone and the heart rate monitor was still on. You turned the volume down so the beeping wouldn’t be heard, but you watched the numbers start to climb.

“How about you summarize the previous night's reading? No? How about the night before that? How about you summarize anything you've ever read in your entire Iife?”

“I- Uh-”

“No? A blog? How about--how about the back of a cereal box? No? How about the adults-only warning from your favorite website you visit every night? Anything? Thank you, McCall, thank you.” Coach was on rampage now. “Thank you, McCall! Thank you for extinguishing any Iast flicker of hope I have for your generation. You just blew it for everybody. Thanks.” You stood up, phone in your hand, and an expletive on your tongue when the monitors number decreased and kept going down.

“Next practice you can start with suicide runs. Unless that's too much reading. AII right. Everybody else, settle down.” You froze, eyes staring at the phone’s numbers dropping dramatically. “Y/L/N sit down, I don’t need a standing ovation.”

You didn’t need to be told twice as you plopped back in the chair. You looked at Stiles who was watching Scott and Allison, so you looked too and noticed that they were holding hands under the table. You tapped Stiles on the shoulder, gesturing to the love birds, and he nodded, coming to the same conclusion as you.  
\--

“It's her.” Stiles said as he stumbled out of the classroom with you and Scott.

“What do you mean?”

“It's AIIison. Remember what you told me about the night of the full moon? You were thinking about her, right? About protecting her.”

Scott looked skeptical but just nodded along. “Okay.”

“Remember the night of the first Iacrosse game? You said you could hear her voice out on the field.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Well, so that's what brought you back so you could score. And then after the game in the Iocker room, you didn't kill her. At Ieast not Iike how you were trying to kill me and Y/N.”

You put a hand over Stiles’s mouth to stop his rambling. “What Stiles is trying to say is, she brings you back.”

“No, no, no, but it's not always true, because Iiterally every time I'm kissing her or touching her--”

You laughed, shaking your head at Scott. “No, that's not the same. When you're doing that, you're just another hormonal teenager thinking about sex, you know?” You frowned at the dopey look on Scott’s face. “You're thinking about sex right now, aren't you?”

“Yeah.” He sighed dreamily which caused you and Stiles to roll your eyes.

Stiles pried your hand off his mouth, fixing you with a mean look before continuing rambling. “Look, back in the classroom when she was holding your hand, that was different, okay? I don't think she makes you weak. I think she actually gives you control.”

You froze, making both boys stop and look at you. “She's kind of Iike an anchor.”

“You mean because I Iove her.” Scott said, looking at you with understanding as you just grinned and hit his shoulder.

“Exactly.”

“Did I just say that?”

“Yes, you just said that.” You were still grinning at Scott as Stiles just rolled his eyes again, but you could tell he was happy too.

“I Iove her.”

“That's great.” Stiles deadpanned. “Now, moving on..”

“No, no, no, really. I think I'm totally in Iove with her.”

“And that's beautiful. Now, before you go off and write a sonnet, can we figure this out, please? Because you obviously can't be around her all the time.” Scott’s smile faltered and he nodded with a serious expression.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. So what do I do?”

“I don't know… yet.” The smile forming on his lips made both you and Scott groan.

You ran a hand down your face. “You're getting an idea, aren't you?”

“Yeah.”

“Is this idea gonna get me in trouble?” Scott asked, wincing when Stiles’s grin turned manic.

“Maybe.”

“Is this idea gonna cause me physical pain?”

“Yeah, definitely.” Stiles grabbed Scott’s arm and yours. “Come on.”

“Nope, count me out.” You shook out of his grip, shaking your head. “I’ve had enough hair brained schemes today. Text me later and let me know you both are alive.”

Stiles shrugged as you ignored Scott’s puppy dog eyes to you and flounced down the hall. You made your way out of the school, eyes blinking rapidly as the sun blinded you. You actually made it out of the parking lot in record time since you left earlier, you made a mental note to always leave Scott and Stiles to themselves so you didn’t have to sit in traffic for 15 minutes.

You looked both ways before pulling onto the main road, turning the music up for your 8 minute drive home. You hummed-- not offkey, screw you Stiles-- to fall out boy, drumming your fingers on the steering wheel. That is, until your car jerked and a loud pop made you swerve off the road.

You felt yourself hyperventilating, hands gripping the wheel, both feet planted firmly on the brake. You kept seeing flashes off jumbled cars, tire marks on the street, and glass scattered all over the road.

You didn’t know how long you sat there, breathing heavily, trying to get your fingers to move when you heard knocking on the window. You jumped, heart begging to pound when you saw who was there.

Chris Argent was smiling smugly at you. His smile slowly fell away when he saw your face though. He faltered, eyes assessing you before he was pulling open the door and grabbing your arm to hoist you out of the car.

“Are you okay?” Chris’s fathering was showing as he looked over you, eyes taking in everything to see if you were injured.

You finally got your head together, thoughts slowly starting to come back to you as you pushed Chris away lightly.

“I’m fine.” Your voice came out scratchy, like you hadn’t used it in years.

“You don’t look fine.”

“What are you even doing here? Stalking is more Luca’s thing.” You crossed your arms over your chest, finally catching a deep breath.

“What do you mean it’s more Luca’s thing?” You raised an eyebrow at Chris’s anger, wondering where it came from.

You were fixing to answer when you saw a flash of black turning the corner and Derek’s Camaro skirting to a halt in front of your own car. He was out of the vehicle in a flash, eyes glowing blue and claws out as Chris pulled a gun from his waistband.

“Woah woah, fuck!” You yelled , jumping into action and catching Derek before he could attack Chris. “Derek, it’s fine. Everything’s okay.”

Shoving a two hundred pound werewolf was hard enough when he wasn’t wolfed out, but now it seemed impossible. Chris’s gun was aimed directly at Derek, and seeing how this could end badly you did the only thing you could think of.

You jumped on Derek, arms going around his neck and legs going around his waist. You felt him stiffen, his growling slowly dying down as you buried your face in his throat. You didn’t like having your back exposed to Chris, but deep down you knew he wouldn’t shoot you.

You bet you looked ridiculous, hanging on Derek like some sort of leach, but it got him to calm down so you just hung on tighter.

“I’m fine.” You whispered, which made the growling finally stop. You raised your head up from where it was, eyes connecting with Derek who was still glaring at Chris but at least with green eyes instead of blue.

You felt warm strong hands circle around your waist, pushing you slightly, and you got with the program and jumped off Derek. You turned toward Chris who was watching you two with narrowed, fathering eyes, before slowly tucking his gun back where it was hidden.

“Okay, now that the theatrics are out of the way…” You mused, forcing yourself to laugh even if your heart was threatening to beat out of your chest. “I’m fine Chris, thanks.. For checking on me.”

You didn’t know why Chris was staring so intently at you, until you felt Derek’s hand curl around your shoulder, right over the bite Luca left. You doctored it up with makeup this morning, making it look more like a badly covered hickey, but to Chris’s trained eyes, you knew what it looked like.

“See you around Y/N… Derek.” You let out a breathe as Chris just turned around to leave. You watched the hunter go, not bothering to speak until the black SUV was out of sight.

“Well, that went spectacularly awful.” You turned around, fixing Derek with a glare. “What the hell were you thinking trying to attack Chris? The other hunters would find you and kill you!” You yelled, poking Derek in the chest for effect.

“I-- I don’t know.” He sounded angry, which rude, you didn’t do anything.

“You don’t know? You just wolf out for no reason now?” You watched him avoid your eyes as he side stepped around you to your car.

“Do you have a spare?”

You stared at him dumbly, mouth slack. “What?”

“Do.You.Have.A.Spare?” You scowled at his tone, ignoring him as you opened the drivers door and popped your truck.

You gestured toward it with a sarcastic grin which Derek returned with just as much sass. You really hated him.

“Stupidwolf.” You muttered, kicking a pebble with your shoe as Derek growled.

“I heard that.”

“You were supposed to.”

Silence fell as Derek wordlessly changed your tire. You knew how of course, but you were never one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Once Derek was finished, and you had the chance to marvel at werewolf strength as he lifted the car instead of using a jack, he slammed the trunk and started to walk toward the Camaro without a word.

“Where were you going when you so stupidly decided to play knight in shining armor?” Derek’s scowl was worth it.

“To visit Peter.”

You paused, contemplating what to say when you decided to just go for it. “Do you want some company?”

You watched a couple of emotions filter across Derek’s face, annoyance, anger, suspicion, before settling for a blank look that made your heart hurt. You knew his answer before he even opened his mouth, so you decided to play to your strengths.

“Look I get it, human is not to be trusted. Human girl, bad. Just-- be careful.” You rolled your eyes, opening your door but Derek’s sigh made you stop.

“Meet me there.” You didn’t even try to hide your smirk as you climbed into the car.

You wished you had wolf hearing, because you knew Derek was cursing the day he met you.

\---

Derek was cursing himself and Y/N the whole way to the facility. He couldn’t believe he lost control like that, especially in front of an Argent. He was lucky he didn’t get himself shot. His mind flashed to Y/N throwing herself around him, trying to calm him down so he didn’t do something that he would regret.

He hadn’t been hugged like that in a long time.

He refused to let Laura too close. Only returning hugs when she needed them, when being an alpha and a parent to a bratty teenage became too much. His neck was still tingling, his wolf wanting to roll around in the affection from her but he stomped that down real quick.

He slammed the door to the camaro, eyeing Y/N as she pulled into the parking spot next to him. He could hear her heart stammering away, the normal rhythm he could pick out anywhere now. He was on his way to see Peter when he heard it, loud and banging around in his head, but doing the familiar stumbling he’s now connected to her panic and snapped.

“What, do I have something on my face?” She asked, frowning like a child.

“No, sorry.” He mumbled, sticking his hands in his jacket and going inside.

Y/N followed loyally behind him, making his wolf preen. It was annoying.

He ignored her and his wolf as he opened the door to Peter’s room. He was in his usual spot by the window, staring out at nothing. He pulled a chair over to Peter’s wheelchair, eyeing Y/N who seemed to make herself blend in with that wall.

“If you can hear me, I need you to give me a sign.” He said, putting his elbows on his knees as he leaned over to Peter. “BIink. Raise a finger. Anything.”

It was complete silence. The only thing he heard was Y/N’s heartbeat and Peter’s.

Derek ran a hand over his head, eyes not leaving Peter’s frame. “Just--just something to point me in the right direction, okay? Someone killed Laura... Your niece. Whoever he is, he's an AIpha now.”

You heard Y/N moving around behind him, but all he could do was stare at his uncle. There was nothing. No elevated heart rate, no tick of a facial feature, no twitch of a muscle.

Nothing.

“But he's one without a pack. Which means he's not as strong. I can take him. But I have to find him first… Look, if you know something, just give me a sign.” He demanded, pushing his chair back as he stood up.

“Is it one of us? Someone else make it out of the fire? Just give me anything. BIink, raise a finger, just anything..”

“Der..” Y/N’s soft voice behind him didn’t make him stop though.

“Say something!” Derek roared, flashing his eyes and grabbing his uncle by the shirt.

Y/N’s hand was on his shoulder, trying to bring him back as the nurse burst through the room.

“Let him go. You think after six years of this, yelling at him is going to get a response?” The nurse sneered, coming to stand in front of Peter, blocking him from Derek and Y/N.

“You got a better method?” Derek asked, eyes back to normal as he shrugged off Y/N’s hand.

“Patience. He'II respond if you give him the time.”

He just rolled his eyes, turning to leave. “I don't have any more time.”

Y/N followed behind silently, but he could smell her frustration and pity. It was setting his wolf on edge.

“If you have something to say, out with it.” He turned around abruptly, causing her to jump and her heart rate to spike.

“I know it seems like the weight of the world is on your shoulders.. But it’s not.” She seemed to choose her words carefully as she took a tiny step toward you. “I might not be much help, what with being the fragile human and all.. but you aren’t alone. I know what your going through and--”

“You don’t know anything.” He snapped, turning around and fishing for his keys, ignoring the quick footsteps coming from behind.

“Hey!” He felt himself being jerked around by the arm before coming face to face with a pissed off teenager. Again. “Listen to me you-- you grumpy, gloom and doom eyebrowed werewolf.”

Derek couldn’t help but raise said doom and glooms high as Y/N waggled her finger in his face, close enough for him to bite it off if he pleased.

He was so tempted.

“I’m tired of your shit, okay? I’m not going anywhere. In fact, I will annoy you until the end of time Derek Alexander Hale because I am in.” Y/N poked him hard in the chest, like she usually did, and Derek couldn’t do anything but marvel at the tiny human. “You’re werewolf bullshit, is now my werewolf bullshit and there isn’t anything you can do about it, understand?”

Derek stared at her dumbly, ears trained on her heart which couldn’t detect one single lie. Her chemosignals were all over the place, but there was one thing that wasn’t there, fear. And it should be. He could snap her neck without even breaking a sweat, but here she was, standing toe to toe with him, unafraid.

It was a sight. His wolf growled ridiculous words like, loyal, stubborn, brave, competent, equal.

Pack.

He hadn’t seen anyone besides Laura as pack since his family died.

“What do you get out of this?” He couldn’t understand Y/N. She was truly a mystery made up of hidden grief, biting sarcasm, and blind loyalty.

“Pain changes people. I get that.. It makes them trust less, overthink more, and shut people out.. But sometimes it can be just as simple as helping. Sometimes people don’t have an ulterior motive Derek. Sometimes, people are just good.” She no longer seemed angry, instead she just sighed.

His wolf was whining, telling him to fix it and fix it now as Y/N turned around to go to her car for the night.

He really didn’t know what to do with this level of emotion. A part of him was saying let her go, that she was better off far away from him and his broken wolf, but the other part, the other part was saying keep her close. The part he had such a hard time trusting anymore.

Instead of stopping her, he let her go.

It was for the best.

\--

You weren’t exactly fuming as you got in the car, but you were close. You knew you couldn’t make Derek open up, but you thought it was getting better. He literally tried to rip a hunter apart for you. You thought-- No. It didn’t matter what you thought, because it was obviously wrong.

You checked your phone, noticing you had a missed text from Stiles and Scott.

[Scott] I should have went with you

[Stiles] So.. my idea got me and Scott detention with Harris. Gonna swing by the station and drop off dinner for dad after. You wanna join?

You were fixing to text back yes when the Camaro screeched by you. You froze for a minute, car idling in the middle of the parking lot, trying to decide what to do. It only took two heartbeats for you to throw your phone in the passenger seat and follow the Camaro.

Cursing the whole time.

“Stupid werewolves and their stupid stupid ideas that end up very badly.” You muttered, turning onto oak street.

Beacon Hills wasn’t exactly Los Angeles but it wasn’t a blink-and-miss town either. You drove along the semi crowded streets of downtown. Passing the movie theater, and the stores that contained everything from old books to retail. You hummed along to the radio as whatever current pop song played, not really paying attention as you carefully followed the Camaro.

It only took a couple minutes and you were pulling into the very familiar Veterinarian's office. Derek got out of the Camaro and just stood there, arms across his chest and glared at the door. You put your car in park, waiting for him to go in but he didn’t. Instead he turned toward the back of the parking lot and gave you doom eyebrows.

You were not nearly as sneaky as you thought, apparently. You sighed, turning the car off and getting out. You slowly made your way to Derek, not really wanting to talk to him.

“Why did you follow me?” Derek huffed, eyebrows furrowing in his angry/confused way they did before he insulted you.

You shoved your jean pockets, rocking back and forth on your heels. “You peeled out of the parking lot like you had a plan. And your plans are usually always stupid and reckless.”

“My plans aren’t--” You cut him off with a raised eyebrow and he huffed in annoyance before turning around and going into the building.

“Scott, you're Iate again. I hope this isn't getting to be a habit.” You followed behind Derek who was heading toward the exam room where Deaton’s voice came from.

You didn’t get a chance to ask Derek what you and him were doing here before Deaton looked up from cleaning some instruments to frown at Derek, then you.

“Oh.. sorry. Can I help you?” You got a strong sense of deja vu as Derek let you pass him and come into the room before shutting the door.

“I hope so. I want to know about the animal you found with the spiral on its side?” You were suddenly lost in the conversation and by the look on Deaton’s face, so was he.

“ Excuse me? What animal?”

Derek reached into his pocket, pulling out a sheet of paper with a deer laying in the middle of what looked like a field, dead, with a spiral on it’s stomach in what you could only assume was drawn in blood. “Three months ago. The deer.. You remember this?”

“Oh, yes. It's just a deer… And I didn't find it. They called me because they wanted to know if I'd ever seen anything Iike it.” You watched as Deaton shifted his weight on his back foot, backing up from the table just a tad.

“What'd you tell 'em?” Derek asked, coming closer to the table with his doom and gloom eyebrows.

“I told them no.” You didn’t have to be a werewolf to sense he wasn’t being 100 percent honest.

“Did you hear that?” Derek asked, finally stepping up to the table.

“Hear what?”

“The sound of your heartbeat rising.” You could tell Deaton was getting more and more nervous.

“Excuse me?” You pushed off from the wall, fixing to tell Derek to back off when Deaton gave you a side eye but before you could reach him, Derek did something stupid.

“It's the sound of you Iying.” You jumped as Derek leaned across the table, grabbing Deaton and slamming his head in the table.

“Derek!” You yelled, reaching for Deaton as soon as Derek let him go. You glared at the wolf who was too busy looking in the vet’s drawers. “That was totally unnecessary and not to mention illegal!”

Derek ignored you as you fussed over the doc. His head was bleeding from the small cut Derek gave him, but otherwise he seemed okay. You were fixing to lower him to the floor, his weight to heavy when Derek dragged over a chair and took him from you.

You stepped back, watching as he put Deaton in the chair and tied his hands behind him with rope. Where Derek got it, or why Deaton had it, was a mystery of its own.

“So we’re torturing innocent people now?” You asked, going back to the wall you were leaning on before Derek made you an accomplice to assault and battery.

“He’s not innocent. He knows something and I’m going to find out what.” Derek growled, eyes flashing at you for a brief moment but you just rolled yours in retaliation.

“Okay, how?”

“If he won’t talk.. I’ll make him talk and you should leave.”

You shook your head no, crossing your arms over your chest as you looked between him and Deaton. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m not going to kill him.” Derek sneered.

“I know that.”

“Then go. This might get ugly.”

“I can take it.” Derek gave you a look that said yeah right but didn’t try to persuade you anymore.

Derek tapped Deaton on the cheek a couple of times and slowly the vet started to stir.

“Oh, God.”

Derek bent down to Deaton’s level, growling. “Are you protecting someone?”

“The key to the drug Iocker is in my pocket.. Please.” You’re resolve to let Derek do his thing faltered at the sound of panic in Deaton’s voice.

“I don't want drugs. I want to know why you're Iying.” You pushed off the wall, catching Deaton’ eye.

“I don't know what you're talking about.” You were fixing to tell Derek to lay off but Derek grabbed the vet again and lifted him off the ground, chair and all. “What are you doing to me! What do you want?”

“Derek..” You reached out for the pair, hand coming just short of stopping them.

“I want to know who you are or who you're protecting.” Derek growled, hitting Deaton who just screamed.

“What are you doing?” You jumped at the sound of Scott coming through the door.

“Scott, get out of here!” Deaton yelled, and you tried to grab Scott but he pushed you away and into the wall.

You stumbled to the floor with the force of the push, wrist aching from catching yourself from hitting the wall with splat.

“Stop! Stop!” Derek dropped Deaton, glaring at Scott before coming to help you stand up.

You pushed him away though, shaking your head as you gathered yourself up, with no help from Scott who was worrying about Deaton.

“Look, when he's conscious, he can keep himself from healing, but unconscious, he can't.” Derek said, reaching for Deaton again.

“Are you out of your mind?”

“What are you talking about?” You asked over Scott’s outrage.

Derek shoved the picture of the deer in Scott’s face before gesturing to Deaton. “You want to know what the spiral means, Scott? It's our sign for a vendetta, for revenge. It means he won't stop killing until he's satisfied!”

You narrowed your eyes at Deaton who still looked dazed. All though he could be faking it. “You think he's the AIpha?”

“We're about to find out.” Derek grabbed Deaton, but didn’t get a chance to do anything as Scott grabbed him.

You froze as Scott was suddenly not Scott. In his place was the furry version of Scott who has tried to kill you. You slowly backed away from your best friend, and closer to Derek who was in control. Derek let go of Deaton, putting a hand back to you, guiding you behind him as he stared at Scott.

Scott was frozen also, staring at his hands which were now sporting 5 very sharp, very deadly, claws. You watched as he took a couple of deep breathes, and before your eyes he was no longer sporting claws and fangs, he was back to normal.

You’re body relaxed, head lulling down to rest against Derek’s back.

“Hit him again, and then you'II see me get angry.” You’re head snapped up in surprise at Scott’s tone, and you grabbed Derek’s arm as you felt him tense up.

“Derek.” You warned, tugging him to get the message that kicking Scott’s ass would not be tolerated.

Derek shrugged out of your grip with a growl and stalked to the other side of the room. You didn’t need spidey senses to know he was annoyed. Scott was glaring at him and at you, then frowning at Deaton.

You decided to hand over an olive branch and reached for the supply of gauze sitting on one of the shelves. You handed it to Scott who took it without hesitation and started dabbing at the head wound. Deaton was still pleasantly unconscious.

Derek was pacing back and forth after a couple of minutes. “Do you have a plan?”

“Just give me an hour.”

“Then what?”

“Meet us at the school. In the parking Iot.” Derek looked like he was fixing to say something, but decided better of it.

You watched him hesitate at the door, looking back to you. You gave him what you thought was a smile, but judging by the complicated doom brows you didn’t succeed. He left without a word, and you remained silent as Scott tended to the wound, stopping every so often to text, who you assumed was Stiles, back.

“I can’t believe you went along with this.” Scott finally said and you just looked anywhere but at him.

“I can’t believe you’re still trying to convince yourself you don’t need anything from Derek.” Scott’s withering glare was enough to make you ditch the small talk.

You preferred the silence anyway.

It didn’t take long for Stiles to show up at the clinic, take one look at a passed out Deaton, to jump on Scott’s side about Derek. Especially when Scott told him what was happening when he came in the clinic.

You just glared at Scott who was putting a past out Deaton in the back of the jeep, and told Stiles to shut up and drive. That earned you a pissy face but he complied which meant he was mad now.

Great, you were two for two on pissing off your best friends.

You decided to remain silent the rest of the time, that was until Scott told you and Stiles his plan. Then you decided to speak up. Frequently. And then you were ignored. Just another day in the life of having two idiotic best friends.

“This is a terrible idea.” You said for the 15th time since being in the back seat of the jeep.

“Yeah, I know. But we're still gonna do it?” Stiles asked, eyeing Scott who was beside him.

“Can you think of something better?” Scott snapped, fixing you with a look through the rear view mirror.

Stiles shrugged, putting the jeep in park and getting out. “Well, personally I'm a fan of ignoring a problem until eventually it just goes away.”

You snickered to yourself as Stiles let you out on his side since Scott slammed the door behind him.

“Just make sure we can get inside.” You knew that wasn’t going to be a problem since Stiles had the very strange habit of coming up with keys to places he wasn’t given keys too.

You would usually make some remark about breaking the law, but at this point, it was pot meet kettle.

“He's here.” Scott said, and you looked around but saw nothing.

It took a minute before the headlight’s came into the parking lot. Werewolf hearing.

You refused to be impressed. Refused.

Derek got out of the car in all his badass leather glory, glaring at Scott and Stiles who just turned to go into the school. “What are you doing?”

“You said I was Iinked with the AIpha. I'm gonna see if you're right.” Scott said, putting his hands in his hoodie and turning back around.

You started to go with them, but stopped. Stiles gave you an inquisitive look and you just shook your head.

“I’ll be Robin. I’ll text you if anyone shows up.” He gave you a small smile, but it faded when he eyed Derek suspiciously.

“Stiles come on.” Scott said, huffing up the stairs to the school. You watched your best friends disappear through the double doors, leaving you alone with Derek.

“How mad is he?” You jumped lightly at the closeness of Derek’s voice, angling your head up to see he was right behind you.

“At you? Very.. as always.” You rolled your eyes as you walked over to the Camaro and leaned against the hood.

“And at you?” You glanced to see Derek staring at you intently, but you just shrugged.

“Lately he seems to stay mad at me.” Derek seemed to accept that answer as he glanced at the backseat of the jeep to make sure Deaton was still there.

It was an awkward silence. Between you wanting to say something and not, and Derek’s tense shoulders bunched up in anticipation, it was making you anxious. It didn’t take long for Scott’s plan to come in as you heard a shrill howl-- no, that couldn’t even be classified as a howl-- come over the intercom of the school.

Derek’s eyes rolled to the back of his skull before meeting yours. “You've got to be kidding me.”

“You try talking Scott out of doing something stupid. See how that works for you.” You shrugged, leaning off the Camaro to look around the parking lot. “You getting anything?”

“No.” Derek’s eyes were bright blue as he scanned his surroundings.

You were fixing to tell Derek you were going to go inside and see if you could help when the loudest roar you’ve ever heard came over the intercom.

You froze, eyes wide and ears still ringing as Scott and Stiles came running out of the school.

“I'm gonna kill both of you. What the hell was that? What are you trying to do, attract the entire state to the school?” Derek growled, nudging you out of the way so he could get to your best friends.

“Sorry. I didn't know it would be that Ioud.” Scott winced, having the decency to look a little ashamed but Stiles was full out grinning.

“Yeah, it was Ioud.” You said, shaking your head to try and get the ringing to stop but still smiling with Stiles.

“And it was awesome.” Stiles fist pumped, earning at eye roll from Scott and a glare from Derek.

“Shut up.”

“Don't be such a sour-wolf.” You smirked, elbowing Derek lightly, eyes twinkling as his glare turned on you.

He looked like he was fixing to say something extra grumpy but stopped when Scott spoke up.

“What'd you do with him?” Scott glared at Derek then to you as he gestured toward the jeep’s backseat.

“What? We didn't do anything…”

You turned to follow where Scott was pointing, noticing the back seat of the jeep was now empty. “The fuck?”

You took a step toward the jeep but stopped when you heard a gurgling sound. You turned to see Derek, eyes wide, and blood pouring from his mouth as he was lifted off the ground

Your scream died on your tongue.

You made a move to help but was stopped when you saw the alpha. It was the same beastly creature that Allison had in her book. It was huge, way bigger than Derek, and his eyes were blood red.

“Oh my god..” Scott and Stiles grabbed for you, pulling you with them and toward the school but you couldn’t get your legs to work properly.

You kept tripping, the only thing holding you up was Stiles and Scott as you kept looking back to where the alpha dropped Derek on the ground. Eyes still open and looking directly at you. Scott gave you one last push into the hallway and you collapsed as Stiles and Scott shut the double doors.

You felt your heart rate stumbling as you tried to draw in a breath, eyes closing, trying to focus but every time they did, all you saw was Derek’s body.


	7. Night School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N, Stiles, and Scott fend off the alpha while trying to keep the supernatural world a secret

“Lock it! Lock it!” Scott screamed, holding onto the double doors for dear life like Stiles.

“With what? Does it look like I have a key?!” Stiles yelled sarcastically, looking around the hall for something.

“Grab something! Anything!” Scott snapped back as Stiles quickly stood up and looked out the tiny windows.

“No.”

“Yes.” You didn’t know what they were arguing about until you saw Stiles make to open the door.

“Stiles, no, don't.” Scott hissed, trying to grab him before he made it out the door but missed.

“Come back, come back! Stiles!” You yelled, quickly getting to your feet just as Stiles came back in and slammed the door.

You were fixing to hit him for risking his life for a pair of metal pliers but Scott beat you to it.

“Where is it? Where'd it go?” Stiles asked, turning on his flashlight and looking out with it.

Where Stiles got the flashlight, you had no idea.

“That won't hold, will it?” You looked to him hopefully as Scott dragged Stiles away from the door back toward you but Stiles shook his head. 

“Probably not.” 

At least he was honest. The boys turned around to look at you, then at the long expanse of the dark hallway. The silence was tense, the only thing you heard was your and Stiles deep breathing until a loud howl echoed through the School.

You followed behind Scott and Stiles as they made a straight line for one of the classrooms. Scott made sure to close the door behind you since you still couldn’t get your feet to work properly and was the last one in. You barely managed to make it to a desk and collapse, head in your hands, and try not to completely break down. Scott and Stiles were trying to come up with a plan, but it ended up with them arguing.

“The desk.”

Scott started to push the teacher’s desk toward the door but the loud scratch made Stiles freeze. “Shh! Stop, stop...The door's not gonna keep it out.”

“I know.”

“It's your boss.”

“What?” Scott gave Stiles a confused look as you finally lifted your head from your hands.

“Deaton.. the Alpha? It’s your boss.”

“No.”

“Yes, murdering psycho werewolf.” Stiles hissed as Scott shook his head.

“That can't be.”

“Oh, come on. He disappears, and that thing shows up 10 seconds Iater to toss Derek 20 feet through the air? That's not convenient timing?”

“It's not him.”

“He killed Derek.” The silence was deafening after that.

“No, Derek's not dead… He can't be dead.” You shook your head, speaking up for the first time causing Scott and Stiles to look at you.

Stiles gave you a sympathetic look, leaving the other side of the desk to grab you by both shoulders, forcing you to look at him. “Blood spurted out of his mouth, okay? That doesn't exactly qualify as a minor injury.. I’m sorry Y/N.” You just remained silent, before Stiles turned back to Scott. “He's dead, and we're next.”

“Okay, just...What do we do?” 

“We get to my jeep, we get out of here, and you seriously think about quitting your job, good?” Scott jerked his head in a nod as Stiles helped you up.

You pushed his hands away, taking a deep breath, and walked to where Scott was trying to open a window.

“No, they don't open. The school's climate-controlled.” Stiles added from the other window, flashlight still on and scanning the grounds.

“Then we break it.” Scott shrugged, fixing to pick up a chair but you caught him.

“Which will make too much noise.”

“Then-then we run really fast. Really fast.”

You gave him a pointed look. “You and I might be able to outrun the alpha, but Stiles can’t.” You ignored Stiles look of outrage, your eyes returning to the window where you could see his jeep. “Stiles.. what's wrong with the hood of your jeep?”

“What do you mean? Nothing's wrong.”

Scott narrowed his eyes toward the jeep and frowned. “It’s bent?”

“Do you mean dented?” Stiles asked, struggling to get past Scott to see if his precious jeep was okay.

You grabbed the flashlight from his hands, pointing it to the hunk of blue metal. “No, he meant bent..”

“What the hell--” Stiles didn’t get to finish since something came flying through the glass window beside you all with a loud break.

Stiles covered your head with his arms as you dropped to the floor, glass shattering next to you. You pointed your flashlight toward the intruding object and froze when you saw what it was.

“That's my battery.” You and Scott just nodded dumbly as you switched the flashlight off.

Stiles made a move to go to it but you dragged him back. “Don't move.”

“We have to move. He could be right outside.” Stiles said, eyeing above him at the window sill.

“He is right outside.” You hissed, gripping him tighter to keep him laying low but it didn’t seem to have any effect.

“Let me take a look..” Scott didn’t wait for your objections as he got to his knees and peered over the sill.

“Anything?” You mumbled, eyes watching Scott’s like a hawk.

“No.”

“Move now?” Stiles offered, way too sarcastically for the mood in the room.

“Move now.” You agreed, followed behind Scott out of the classroom with Stiles bringing up the rear.

You didn’t like this but Stiles seemed to not want you out of his sight so you let it go. You turned the flashlight back on, not wanting to draw any attention to your location, but also not wanting to fall flat on your face either. Scott couldn’t appreciate it with his wolf eyes but Stiles could.

“This way.” Scott said as he creptt around the corner, fixing to go into another classroom but Stiles stopped him.

“No, no, no, no.”

“What?”

“Somewhere without windows.” There was a reason Stiles was the smart one.

“Every single room in this building has windows.” Okay, so maybe Scott wasn’t as stupid.

“Okay, somewhere with less windows.” You amended, smiling at Stiles. “The locker room?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” Now that that was decided you gestured for Scott to lead the way and he did without any grumbling, but Stiles still wouldn’t let you behind him.

“I’m faster than you, my chances of outrunning anything is way better. I should be last.” You mumbled as Stiles gave you a tiny glare which read drop it. So you did. You quickly made it into the boys locker room, you could hear Coach Finstock yelling at you to get out in your head but you ignored it.

Scott turned once you all were in the locker room, looking at Stiles. “Call your dad.” 

“And tell him what?”

“I don't know, anything. There's a gas leak, a fire, whatever. If that thing sees the parking lot filled with cop cars, it'll take off.”

“What if it doesn't? What if it goes completely Terminator and kills every cop in sight, including my dad?”

“They have guns.”

“Yeah, and Derek had to be shot with a wolfsbane-laced bullet to even slow him down, you remember that?” You snapped, shaking your head at Scott.

There was no way your were letting Noah get anywhere near this. Nuh uh.

“Then we--we have to--we have to find a way out and just run for it.” You huffed, glaring at Scott but before you could say anything Stiles did.

“There's nothing near the school for at Ieast a mile.”

“What about Derek's car?” 

“That could work. We go outside, we get the keys off his body, and then we take his car.”

“And him.” You added, daring Scott and Stiles to argue.

Scott just rolled his eyes and you heard a faint whatever from Stiles, but at least they agreed so there's that. Now with a plan, you followed them out of the locker room but stopped when Scott caught Stiles’s hand on the door knob.

“What?”

“I think I heard something.”

“Like what?” You asked, eyes looking around skeptical but saw nothing.

“Shh, quiet..” You gave him Scott a withering glare but chose not to say anything. “Hide.”

Stiles apparently didn’t have to be told twice as he loudly opened a locker and stuffed himself in it.

“No, no, Stiles. No… Scott.” You’re complaint’s were lost as Scott did the same thing.

You made the split second decision to join in on their stupidness, ignoring every rule from horror movies and stuffed yourself into an open locker next to Scott’s. It was eerily silent as you tried to get your breathing under control.Just when you thought maybe Scott’s wolf senses misheard something, the door slowly opened with a creak that made your skin crawl. You clicked off the flashlight and covered your mouth with your hand to keep from making any noises.

The footsteps you heard made your heart quicken and you knew you were all goners because there was no way a werewolf couldn’t hear it. You gripped the flashlight tighter in your hand, preparing to go down swinging when Scott’s locker busted open with a very familiar yelp.

“Ah! Son of a bitch!” Mr. Grady, the janitor, yelled as Stiles shushed him while tumbling out of his own locker at the same time you did.

“Quiet my ass, what the hell are you three trying to do, kill me? All of you, get out!” He huffed, ushering you and Scott toward the door as Stiles tried to talk to him.

“Just listen for half a second, okay--”

“Not okay. Get the hell out of here right now.” He pushed you and Scott out in the hall, and reached back for Stiles who had his mouth open in protest.

“God, just one second to explain.” You said, taking Stiles from his grip.

“Just shut up and go.” He pushed you and Stiles one last time, fixing to shut the locker room door when all of a sudden he was sucked back inside and the door slammed behind him.

You couldn’t do anything but watch as he screamed. His bloodied hands banging on the door window before slipping down and leaving a trail of crimson red behind. You tried to reach for the handle, but Stiles pulled you away, taking the flashlight from you and turning it on before grabbing Scott and running down the hall.

There was a loud bang, which sounded like the metal door being pushed open and you forced your feet to work so Stiles was no longer dragging you, instead you were dragging him to keep up with Scott.You were running so fast, your brain only thinking of one thing, surviving, so you didn’t notice Scott slamming into the double doors in front of you. You hit the door with the same clang, your hip radiating pain as you tried to push through but it was no use.

“What the hell?” You tried again, out of sheer stubbornness but Scott just sighed. If he couldn’t get it open there was no way in hell you could.

Stiles let the flashlight through the small opening on the doors to see what the barricade was. “It's a dumpster. He pushed it in front of the door. To block us in.”

You cursed, hitting the door with your shoe and ignoring the pain that came with it.

“Y/N.. come on.” Stiles said, pulling you away from the double doors.

“I'm not dying here. I'm not dying at school.” You looked into Stiles eyes who just nodded his head in understanding.

“We're not going to die.” Scott growled, eyes flashing yellow for the briefest moment. You took a deep breath, and stood up straight to follow behind Scott.

“What is he doing? What does he want?”

“Me.. Derek says it's stronger with a pack.” You flinched at Derek’s name, but remained silent.

“That’s great. A psychotic werewolf who's into teamwork. That's--That's beautiful.” Stiles’s sarcasm was oddly comforting. You aimlessly followed Scott who turned down another hallway then froze.

You actually heard it this time. Growling. You followed the flashlights beam and saw the alpha make a b-line for the glass window that lined the hallway.

“Run.” You barely managed to get the word out before the window shattered and the alpha was giving chase.

You were right behind Scott, matching him step for step, but Stiles was still behind. Scott seemed to notice and reached for him, able to pull your bestfriend along with his new found werewolf strength better than you could. You took the lead then, busting through a set of double doors that lead to the basement level. You descended them in record speed, and came out the other end. You could hear Scott and Stiles struggling behind you, and you were too, but for different reasons.

Stiles’s flashlight was half helping light up the hall, and half distracting since the beams were going every which way because of the running. You cut one corner, coming to a stop and pressing your back against a row of old lockers. Stiles was almost hyperventilating beside you, and you weren’t much better, but Scott was barely winded. Stupid werewolves.

Scott peaked around the corner and turned back to you mouthing _go_. And you did. You reached for the flashlight, keeping it steady as you carefully walked down another hallway.

You had no idea where you were, since no one went down to the sub level, but finally managed to make it into a room.

“All right, we have to do something.” Stiles said, eyes filtering between you and then to Scott like he were in charge.

Scott seemed to be getting that he was supposed to come up with a plan. “Like what?”

“I don't know. Kill it, hurt it, inflict mental anguish on it. Something.” You rolled your eyes at Stiles, before looking around the room.

“I vote kill it.” You muttered, ignoring the look you got from Scott.

You all stopped talking when you heard glass shattering. You didn’t make a move though, because Scott seemed to be listening to something you or Stiles couldn’t hear.

You reached for the werewolf. “Scott?”

He shushed you, tilting his head so he could listen more intently. You huffed slightly, straining your ears but all you could hear was the pipe’s working in the basement. You were about to give up when Scott made a move to leave the room.

You raised an eye at Stiles who shrugged and followed loyally behind Scott. Sometimes you wished you could strangle them. You followed dotely behind them, looking around the basement for the first time. Everything was covered in dust and rust, but what really got you was the smell.

“It smells like ass down here, does no one ever clean this place?” You mumbled, squeezing around a corner behind Stiles.

You noticed a small room to the left of you that was connected to the same hallway you were on by a wall. You all stopped when you heard the groaning sound of metal, like something was too heavy. You looked everywhere Stiles’s flashlight went, but saw nothing. You heard a low growl come from your right, and you slowly reached in your pocket to pull out your keys much to Scott’s protests for the potentially bad idea you just got.

“Shut up.” You hissed, undoing the key to Stiles’s house along with a monogramed Y/F/I.

You looked at Stiles and Scott before throwing the keys as far to the left as you could into the room. You grabbed Stiles and ran the way you came, Scott following right behind as a loud roar rang out through the basement. You quickly turned left and came out on the other side of the wall, running smack into the door to the room to close the alpha in.

“The desk. Come on, the desk!” You snapped at Scott as the alpha roared again but he quickly got with the program and shoved a heavy duty metal desk in front of the door.

It was quiet now. A little too quiet, but you quickly got over the desk and ushered for Stiles to climb over to.

“Come on, get across.” You made to reach for him but he pulled back, pausing to look in the little window of the door. “What--What are you doing?!”

“I just wanna get a look at it.”

“Are you crazy?” You reached for him again but he pushed your hands away as he glared.

“Look, it's trapped, okay? It's not gonna get out.” You raised an impressive eyebrow at that but just shrugged.

The low rumble coming from the other side of the door made you glare daggers it.

“Yeah, that's right, we got you--”

“Will you both shut up?” Scott snapped, then reached for Stiles and pulled him off the table despite his protests.

“I'm not scared of this thing.” You sneered as another growl came from the door. “I'm not scared of you.” Scott rolled his eyes but Stiles just hit your shoulder proudly.

“Right, 'cause you're in there, and we're out here. You're not going any--” He was cut off by the loud bang and metal bending as the alpha threw himself against the door.

“Shit.” You yelled grabbed Stiles again and taking off the way you came in. You let your bestfriend go so Scott could keep an eye on him as you led them out of the basement and back into the school, running faster as you heard the metal from the door give way in a thunderous bang.

“Wait. Do you hear that?” Scott asked, coming to a stop at Harris’s classroom door.

“We don’t half wolf sonar like you Scott.”

“It sounds like a phone ringing.” Scott said, ignoring your sarcasm. “Wait.. I know that ring. It's Allison’s phone.”

You let out a deep breathe before pulling out your phone and dialing Allison’s number and handing the phone over to Scott.

“ _Y/N_?”

“No, it's Scott, where are you?”

“ _I'm in the school looking for you, why weren't you at my place_?”

“Where are you right now?”

“ _On the first floor._ ”

“Where? Where are you exactly?”

“ _The swimming pools._ ”

“Get to the lobby. Go now.”

“ _Okay, okay, I'm coming_.”

Scott handed the phone back to you, ignoring your questioning gaze, and turned right down the hallway toward the lobby. You followed behind Scott with Stiles, not running but not exactly walking at a leisurely pace either.

You burst through the doors a half a second behind Scott to see him pull Allison in a tight hug.

“Why did you come? What are you doing here?” Scott asked, pulling Allison back to look her over. She seemed unharmed, which you were thankful for.

“Because you asked me to..”

“I asked you to?” Scott clarified, clearly confused.

“Why do I get the feeling you didn't send this message?” She frowned as she showed Scott her phone which read

**meet me at the school, urgent -Scott**

text on it.

“Because I didn't.” You grabbed the phone out of Allison’s hand and looked at the unknown number before shaking your head and giving it back to her.

“Did you drive here?” You asked hopefully but she just shook her head no.

“Jackson did.”

“Jackson's here, too?” You frowned, looking around as she said Lydia was too.

“What's going on? Who sent that text?” She demanded as her phone started ringing. You jumped as the other set of double doors opened but immediately relaxed when you saw who it was.

“Finally.” Lydia drawled as she clicked her phone, eyeing you for half a second before turning to Allison. “Can we go now?”

You were fixing to reply when a heavy thud came from overhead, accompanied by a low growl.

You didn’t think twice before grabbing Lydia’s arm. “Run!”

You took off at a mad dash, dragging Lydia with you and Scott dragging Stiles. Allison seemed to be holding up just fine on her own and so was Jackson, so that was a plus. You took the stairs leading to the next level two at a time, not slowing down as the ceiling crumbled down behind everyone.

You burst through the first door you could find that you knew were open and threw Lydia in as everyone else came tumbling through.

“Help me get this in front of the door.” Scott turned to Jackson as he and you pushed the cooler in front of the door.

“What was that?”

“Scott, what was that?”

“What came out of the ceiling?”

Lydia and Allison kept firing off questions over top of questions until you snapped.

“Shut up and just help us!” Lydia looked offended for half a second and Allison looked betrayed but they both started handing Scott and Jackson chairs to stack.

“Guys.. Can we just wait a second?” You ignored Stiles, solely focusing on trying to keep the rage monster from eating everyone. “You guys, listen to me--Can we wait a second? Guys? Stiles talking...Can we hang on one second, please?”

You stopped once most of the chairs were piled up and turned to Stiles who had his hands on his hips giving everyone his usual sarcastic smile.

“Oh, hello! Okay, nice work. Really beautiful job, everyone. Now, what should we do about the 20-foot wall of windows?” He gestured to the windows and you felt your heart sink.

You collapsed on the ground, head in your hands as Allison’s panicked voice rang throughout the room.

“Can somebody please explain to me what's going on, because I'm freaking out here. And I would like to know why.. Scott?”

“Somebody killed the janitor.” Your head snapped up as Stiles tried to explain everything.

“What?” Allison sounded like she was on the verge of tears, and Scott looked like he was three seconds away from wolfing out.

“Yeah, the janitor's dead.” Stiles tried to sound calming but you didn’t think it was possible.

“What's he talking about? Is this a joke?” Allison was borderline hysterical now as you stood up from your spot on the floor.

“Wait, who killed him?” Jackson asked as Lydia shook her strawberry blonde hair frantically.

“No, no, no, no. This was supposed to be over. The mountain lion killed--”

“No, don't you get it? There wasn't a mountain lion.” You gave Jackson a half glare as he snapped at Lydia.

“Who was it? What does he want?” Allison shook her head, tears coming from her eyes as she whispered, “What's happening?...Scott!”

“I don't know.” Scott stammered, turning to look at the group. “I just.. If we go out there, he's gonna kill us.”

“Who?... Who is it?” Allison was done with hysterics as her voice snapped at Stiles then to you.

You were fixing to just tell them the truth, about everything, but before you could Scott did something stupid.

“It's Derek. It's Derek Hale.” You gaped at Scott, mouth hung open as Allison calmly asked if he was sure Derek killed the janitor.

“I saw him.”

“The mountain lion--”

Scott cut Lydia off with a firm, “No, Derek killed them.”

Allison seemed to be having a time coming to terms with this as she asked again, “All of them?”

You couldn’t even move to speak, still reeling from the fact Scott would do something this low.

“It's been Derek the whole time.”

“No it hasn’t.” You growled, coming to stand in front of Scott who gave you a death glare right back.

“He's in here with us. And if we don't get out now He's going to kill us, too.” Scott didn’t seem to be backing down so you turned toward everyone.

“We don’t know it was Derek. Scott saw someone, and so did Stiles and I, but it didn’t look like Derek.”

“Look I don’t care who it is.. call the cops.” Jackson said, looking at Stiles who was shaking his head no.

“What do you mean, no?”

“I mean no. You want to hear it in Spanish? _No_. Look, Derek killed three people, okay? We don't know what he's armed with.” You gave Stiles a look of betrayal but he was ignoring you.

“Your dad is armed with an entire sheriff's department. Call him.” Stiles remained firm as he shook his head at Jackson again.

“I'm calling.” Lydia said, promptly pulling out her phone before Stiles could reach for it because Jackson had him by the jacket. “Hey. Yes, we're at Beacon Hills High School. We're trapped, and we need you to--But-- She hung up on me.”

You closed your eyes, willing this day to not get any worse before coming to push Jackson off Stiles.

“She said they got a tip warning them that there are gonna be prank calls about a break-in at the high school. She said if I called again that they're gonna trace it and have me arrested.” Lydia was glaring at her phone but when she looked at you the glare wasn’t there.

All it took was a life or death incident.

“Okay, then call again.” Jackson prompted but you shook your head.

“No, they won't trace a cell.. then they'll send a car to your house before they send anyone here.”

“What the--What--What is this? Why does Derek want to kill us? Why is he killing anyone?” You looked at Scott, along with everyone else.

“Why's everyone looking at me?” He asked defensively, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Is he the one that sent her the text?” Lydia asked and you gave Scott a rueful smile.

“I don’t know, is he Scott?” You gave him one last chance to come clean but he shook his head and ignored you.

“No. I mean, I don't know.”

“Is he the one that called the police?” Allison asked.

“I don't know!” Scott yelled, causing everyone to pause. You pursed your lips at the werewolf who just dug himself a hole with Allison.

Serves him right.

“All right, why don't we just back off the throttle here, yeah?” You quickly pushed Scott away from the others. Once you got far enough away with Stiles right behind you, you hit Scott hard on the arm.

“Okay, first off, throwing Derek under the bus? That was fucking low, even for you.” Scott’s glare faltered as he shrugged.

“I didn't know what to say. I had to say something. And if he's dead then it doesn't matter, right?

“Except if he's not.” You snapped, brushing off Stiles’s attempt at comfort.

“Oh, God, I totally just bit her head off.” Scott seemed to get over your anger at him or just not care, but either way you weren’t over it.

“I hope she never forgives you.” Scott’s affronted look was victory enough, but Stiles cut in before you and Scott could hurt your friendship anymore than you have in the past couple of weeks.

“Bigger issues at hand here, like how do we get out alive?”

“But we are alive. It could've killed us already..It's Iike it's cornering us or something.” You hated that Scott made a good point.

“So what, he wants to eat us all at the same time?”

“No! Derek said it wants revenge.”

“Against who?”

“Allison’s family? It would certainly make sense… they come from a long line of werewolf hunters and the alpha is a werewolf.” You said, sparing a look at Allison before turning back toward Scott and Stiles.”Maybe that's what the text was about. Someone had to send it.”

“Okay, assheads. New plan. Stiles calls his useless dad and tells him to send someone with a gun and decent aim. Are we good with that?” You glared at Jackson, flipping him off as Scott shrugged.

“He's right. Tell him the truth if you have to, just call him.” You turned around to stare at Scott like he’s grown two heads.

“I'm not watching my dad get eaten alive.” Stiles said, clenching his jaw and you patted him on the shoulder.

“The sheriff is out.” You said, plain and simple despite the puppy dog eyes Allison was giving.

“All right, give me the phone.” Jackson lunged for the phone in Stiles’s hand, and you were going to push him away but before you could Stiles swung.

“Jackson! Are you okay?” You kept blinking, trying to figure out if what you just saw actually happened as Lydia dove to help him up.

Stiles shook out his fist from where he landed a solid punch to Jackson’s face.

“Hey, are you okay?” You asked, cradling his hand in yours before chuckling. “Nice punch.. Very heroic.” You waggled your eyebrows suggestively as he rolled his eyes at you before pressing the sheriff’s contact.

“Dad, hey, it's me...And it's your voicemail. Look, I need you to call me back now. Like, right now.” You frowned, wondering what changed his mind but didn’t get a chance to ponder on it when a loud banging on the doors echoed through the room. “We're at the school, okay? We're at the school.”

“The kitchen, the door out of the kitchen leads to the stairwell.” Stiles said, grabbing a hold of you and pulling you toward the back of the cafeteria.

“Which only goes up.”

You gave Scott a look before getting a better grip on Stiles’s arm. “Up is better than here.”

You ignored the ache in your calves from all the running and the stiff muscles in your arm from pulling Stiles along with you but you led the charge through the kitchen and up to the top level of the school as the banging on the doors got louder and louder, just as the growls.

You were examining every room, not wanting to just pick one at random again, before settling on another chemistry class. You thanked every deity known to earth that the door wasn’t locked as you tumbled into the room, chest burning from running for so long.

“Jackson, how many people can fit in your car?” You asked as Scott put a chair under the wooden door.

“Five, if someone squeezes on someone's lap.” You gave him a _are-you-kidding-me_ look that Lydia and Allison seemed to agree with.

“Five? I barely fit in the back.” Allison snapped but Stiles just shook his head.

“It doesn't matter. There's no getting out without drawing attention.”

You all remained silent as Scott tilted his head to listen. You waited, trying to get your breathing back to normal, but as soon as Scott tensed up it was no use. Your heart beat was all you could hear, but you felt Scott place his hands on the desk beside yours.

It only lasted a second though, then he seemed to relax some and you were able to breathe.

“What about this? This leads to the roof.” Scott asked after the longest time, pulling you and Stiles along to the back of the room that thankfully held a rooftop access door. “We can go down the fire escape to the parking lot in like seconds.”

“That's a deadbolt.” You huffed, giving Stiles a deadpanned look before trying the door.

Naturally, it was locked.

“The janitor has a key.”

“You mean his body has it.” You hit Stiles’s sarcastic ass, but he gave you a pout as he rubbed his shoulder.

“I can get it. I can find him by scent, by blood.”

“Well, gee, that sounds like an incredibly terrible idea. What else you got?” You asked, looking at Scott who rolled his eyes.

“I'm getting the key.”

“Are you serious?”

“Well, it's the best plan.” You’re eye roll was not well received from Scott.

“Someone has to get the key if we want to get out of here.” He snapped at you before turning to give Allison a small smile.

“You can't go out there unarmed.” She said coming over to grab Scott’s arms. If she only knew how better equipped he was than you all were.

“Well, it's better than nothing.” Stiles gave Scott a bro tap on the shoulder, before connecting eyes with you.

“There's gotta be something else.” Oh, Allison.

“There is.” You raised an eye toward Lydia who stormed away from Jackson and over to the chemical closet.

“What are we gonna do? Throw acid on him?” You weren’t trying to be contrary, but the look Lydia gave you made you hold your hands up in surrender.

“No. Like a fire bomb. In there is everything we need to make a self-igniting Molotov cocktail.” Stiles was grinning proudly at Lydia, as you, Scott, and Allison looked impressed.

“Self-igniting Molotov cocktail.” Jackson’s simple brain struggled with the words as Lydia cocked her head to the side like an airhead.

“What? I read it somewhere.”

“We don't have a key for that either.” You rolled your eyes at Jackson, pushing the dumbass out of the way to elbow the glass.

You winced at the pain radiating from your elbow and at the loud crash of glass tumbling to the ground. You gave your best Vanna White impression, gesturing to the now unlocked cabinet with a huge smile.

“Y/N, hand me the sulfuric acid.” Lydia said, going over to a chemistry station. You frowned at her but complied.

“No. No, this is insane, you can't do this. You cannot go out there.” You agreed with Allison to an extent. You knew Scott had a better chance than anyone to defeat the alpha, but you also knew it was a suicide mission.

“We can't just sit here waiting for Stiles' dad to check his messages.”

“You could die. Don't you get that? He's killed three people--”

“And we're next. Somebody has to do something.” You watched the Romeo-Julietesc fight in front of you, wondering if you should try to convince Scott to stay too.

“Scott, just stop. Do you remember--Do you remember when you told me you knew whether or not I was lying? That I had a tell. So do you. You're a horrible liar.” True statement. “And you've been lying all night. Just..Just please, please don't go. please don't leave us.”

If Allison’s tears couldn’t stop Scott then you knew you had no chance in hell, so you let the couple have their star-crossed fight in private. You watched Allison lock the door behind Scott after Lydia gave him one cocktail. She was wiping tears from her eyes as Stiles gave her back a sympathetic pat.

You contemplated telling them everything. You really did. It would be so simple. Jackson and Lydia knew something was up, and Allison had that book on werewolves, but you didn’t. You remained silent, the only sounds coming from Lydia as she mixed chemicals beside you.

“I don't get this. I don't get why he's out there, and why he left us. And I can't I can't stop my hands from shaking.” Allison said after the longest time, flexing her fingers which were indeed trembling.

You were surprised when Jackson was the one who comforted her. “It's okay. It's okay, it's gonna be okay.”

You eyed Lydia who was watching the exchange with hawk eyes. You nudged her lightly, call it temporary insanity, and arched an eyebrow. She huffed, rolling her eyes before standing up straight.

“You handed me the sulfuric acid, right? It has to be sulfuric acid. It won't ignite if it's not.” You rolled your eyes right back.

“I gave you exactly what you asked for Lydia. I may not be a genius like you but I know what sulfuric acid is.” Lydia faltered for a mili-second, before connecting eyes with you.

She held your gaze, her emerald eyes assessing you on a different level than she ever has before and gave you a curt nod. You supposed it was the best you could ask for. You jumped as a loud howl, at least ten times louder than Scott’s, shook the foundation.

Jackson screamed in agony, clutching the back of his neck before dropping to the floor. You, Allison, and Lydia reached for him at the same time but he shook you all off as he struggled to get up all on his own.

“I'm fine. Like, seriously, I'm okay.” He said, swatting away Lydia’s attempt to reach him. That’s when you saw exactly what he was clutching at.

The claw marks.

“That didn't sound okay at all.” You grabbed his collar, tugging him toward you so you could get a better look at Derek’s handy work.

“What's on the back of your neck?” Stiles asked, trying to get a better look too.

He grabbed your hands, holding them in a painful grip before slinging them away. “I said I'm fine.”

“It's been there for days. He won't tell me what happened.” Lydia mumbled, but you all could hear her.

“As if you actually care.” Jackson snapped, causing you to sneer at him and look at Lydia who was sinking into herself.

You honestly don’t know whatever possessed you to have sex with him.

“All right, can we not argue for half a second here?” Stiles gave Lydia a quick look before glaring at you and Jackson.

Allison went to the door, looking out the tiny window as she gnawed at her thumbnail. “Where's Scott? He should be back by now.”

You heard the lock click in door, causing all four of you to jump.

“Scott?” Allison tried opening the door but it was no use. “Scott! Where's he going? Scott. Scott!” Allison was banging on the door by now, trying to get it open as Lydia yelled for her to stop.

“Stop! Do you hear that?” Allison finally stopped at Lydia’s request and you strained your ears to hear what Lydia did. “Listen.” You closed your eyes, exhaling slowly when you heard it.

Sirens.

You all rushed toward the small window in the class and saw three deputy cars pull up. You let out another breath as Stiles grabbed your hand and squeezed. You were going to be okay.

\---  
  


Everything after that happened in a blur. You all stayed put until you heard the deputies calling your name in the halls, then you were all separated to give your statements. There were a lot of questions, most of all, what the hell happened.

“You sure it was Derek Hale?” Noah asked as he escorted you, Scott and Stiles out of the school.

“Yes.” Scott answered automatically with Stiles right behind him.

“I saw him, too.”

“Y/N? Did you see Derek?” You bit you lip, looking between your two bestfriends and Noah.

Scott and Stiles looked like they expected you to go along with them, like you always did, but you couldn’t on this. This was Derek. Alive, dead, it didn’t matter. You had been fighting like hell to get him to trust you and you weren’t going to throw him under the bus when things got difficult.

“I saw someone, but it wasn’t Derek Hale.” Noah frowned at you, as Stiles and Scott’s jaws hung open.

“Are you sure?”

You nodded your head at Noah. “The guy was tall, roughly the same build but it wasn’t Derek.” This is where you pulled out all the stops. “This guy was clean shaven, older than Derek by a good 15-20 years. He kind of looked like the older man I saw out in the woods that chased me with guns.”

“Boys?” Noah turned to your best friends and you glared at them behind his back.

Scott gave you the biggest bitch face as Stiles looked between you both. You know what you just did, but you didn’t care.

“In fact, Noah.. I think I’ve seen the guy before at a lacrosse game….” You narrowed your eyes at Scott, daring him to disagree with you.

He seemed to get the hint as he clenched his jaw and turned to Noah.

“Maybe it wasn’t Derek. I- I think Y/N’s right.” You tried not to smirk at Scott, but judging by the scowl he was throwing your way, your face couldn’t keep it together.

“What about the janitor?” Stiles asked, trying to steer the conversation away from Derek.

“We're still looking.”

“Did you check under the bleachers?” Scott asked, looking around nervously.

“We pulled them out just like you asked, there's nothing.” Noah answered Scott by shrugging his shoulders.

“I’m not making this up.”

“I know, I believe you, I do.” You didn’t have to be a wolf to know the sheriff was lying. He didn’t believe anything you, Stiles, or Scott had said to him all night.

“No, you don't. You have this look.. Like you feel bad for me. Like you want to believe me, but I know you don't.”

Noah sighed, giving you a look before turning back to Scott. “Listen to me. We're gonna search this whole school. We're gonna find him. Okay? I promise.”

You stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say when Clemens yelled for Noah.

“Stay. All of you.” You and Stiles both held your hands up in defense causing Noah to snort before shaking his head and walking toward his deputy with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

You immediately felt bad for lying to the man. You knew he couldn’t do his job without all the information, but Stiles was adamant about not telling him and you agreed. Noah had to be kept safe, so if that meant lying, then that was exactly what you were going to do.

“Well, we survived. You know? We outlasted the Alpha..It's still good, right? Being alive?” Stiles gave you a small smile but you couldn’t force any of your face muscles to make one.

Scott turned around to look back to the school. “When we were in the chemistry room, he walked right by us. You don't think that it heard us? You don't think it knew exactly where we were?”

“Well, then how come we're still alive?” Stiles asked, looking over to his dad before back to you and Scott.

“It wants me in its pack. But I think, first I have to get rid of my old pack.”

You felt the back of your hair stand up at that, looking Scott directly in the eye before asking, “What do you mean? What old pack?”

“Allison. Jackson, Lydia. Stiles, you…”

Realization dawned on you then. “The alpha doesn't want to kill us.”

“He wants me to do it and that's not even the worst part.”

“How in holy hell is that not the worst part, Scott?” Stiles shrieked, which earned him a sharp look from you.

“Because when I left to find the key.. he made me shift in the hallway. I don’t know how..” Scott looked at Stiles before looking to you. “But I wanted to do it. I wanted to kill you. All of you.”

You all stood there in silence, letting Scott’s words wash over you. You had no idea what to do next. The alpha was on the loose, the hunters wouldn’t leave you alone, and now the one person who was on your side was gone. You felt hopeless.

“We’ll figure it out… We always do.” You felt a warm arm come around your shoulder, but you couldn’t bring yourself to believe Stiles.

You watched as Scott turned away, but froze. Stiles turned you both around to follow Scott’s line of sight. Scott didn’t waste any time making his way over to the ambulance and the patient inside.

“There you are.” Deaton said, giving Scott a friendly smile.

“How -How did you--”

“Get out? Not easily. And from what they tell me, I'm alive because of you. I think I owe you a raise.” Deaton chuckled as you glared at the vet.

“Guys, come on, Lets let the EMTs do their job. You can talk to him later.” Clemens said, ushering you all away from Deaton who was still smiling in the ambulance like a psychopath.

Scott zeroed in on Allison and hurried away to talk to her, but the look she was giving said she definitely didn’t want to talk to him. Stiles let go of you when Noah called his name, but he didn’t leave before giving Clemens a glare.

Clemens’ eyes followed Stiles as he walked away. “I don’t think he likes me very much.”

“He’s just really protective.” You chuckled, clutching your jacket around you tighter.

“It looks to me like you can handle yourself just fine.” You tore your gaze away from Stiles and Noah to find Clemens looking at you.

Well, leering. You felt your stomach sink, the hairs on the back of your neck starting to stick up and a sudden feeling of deja vu come over you. Bits and pieces of the party last week came back to you, but you couldn’t explain this negative reaction to Clemens.

“Uhh.. thanks.” You said dumbly, shuffling backwards because he somehow got too close to you.

“You’re welcome, Y/N. I’ll see you around.. Try to stay out of trouble okay?” He didn’t seem to mind your freak out as he gave you the smile that usually had you swooning.

You had to make yourself not flinch back as his hands cupped your shoulder, squeezing just enough to be on the borderline of comforting and painful.

“Yeah. I’ll try.” You forced yourself to smile as you locked eyes with him.

He gave you another smile as he let go and turned to walk away, leaving you able to breathe normally. You frowned after him, wondering what the hell that was all about, and since when did your body going into PTSD mode around Deputy Clemens.

You knew he was at the party, Derek told you as much, and you knew he was trying to get you home but you freaked out. You wrote it off as the drugs the hunters used, but maybe it was something more. Maybe it was-- nope.

You’ve just had a long ass night, and almost died. That’s all it was.

“Ready to go?” You jumped at hearing Stiles right behind you. He gave you a confused look but you just sighed.

“Hell yes.” You walked side by side over to Noah’s cruiser, since Roscoe was out of commission until further notice.

Stiles let you have the front seat as him and Scott climbed in the back. The ride home was uncomfortable, filled with tense silence and dread from all four of you. You knew Noah was stressing about finding you and Stiles at yet another crime scene, on top of the animal attacks.

You tried to connect eyes with Stiles through the rearview mirror, but he had his closed and head tilted back, faking being asleep to get out of any questions. You thought that was a brilliant idea so you turned toward the right, placing your head on the window and closed your eyes.

But sleep didn’t come.

What did was flashes of red eyes, glass breaking, howling, green eyes, and blood. Lots and lots of blood.


	8. Balancing Act

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N faces her feelings for Derek, the truth about the Hale fire, and the full moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> French Translation:
> 
> C'est l'une des langues les plus faciles à apprendre: It’s one of the easiest languages to learn
> 
> À prendre ou a laisser: Take it or leave it

You were dead on your feet by the time you unlocked your door. You narrowly escaped Noah’s threatening look by jumping out of the cruiser and hurrying to your door. You shot Stiles a sympathetic look, knowing Noah and him were going to have a tough conversation, but you just couldn’t do it tonight.

You were barely making your feet move at this point.

You closed and locked the door behind you before letting your head rest against the wood.

“Are you okay?”

You screamed, turning around and throwing your keys in the direction of the voice that scared the shit out of you. Wait, you knew that voice.

“Fuck, Derek! How many times have I told you not to do that?!” You snapped at him as you turned on the light to the living room.

You faltered in your anger when you caught sight of him though. His shirt was bloody, face pale, and looked worse for wear but he was okay.  
  


then it clicked. Derek was there. In your living room. He was _alive_.

You didn’t waste a second before throwing your arms around him and holding on for dear life. You felt Derek tense under you, but you just squeezed tighter.

“I--I thought the alpha--”

“I’m okay Y/N.” His voice came out gruff, and you immediately let go, cursing yourself for not being more careful with his injuries.

“Scott and Stiles didn’t think you could have made it… I thought the alpha took your body.” You reached for him, but didn’t get a chance to make contact since he grabbed your hand.

“I’m _okay_.” You looked at him, trying to judge if he was actually telling you the truth. His green eyes were shining clearly though, if a little tired.

“Well.. you look like shit.” You gave him a small smile which made him chuckle.

He gave your hand a tight squeeze before letting it go and turning around to go upstairs.

“Where are you going?” You asked, following behind him.

“To get a shower.. Apparently, I look like shit.” You rolled your eyes but let him be.

You walked into your room, noticing right off the bat the open window that has become Derek’s favorite breaking and entering point. You sighed loudly, closing your eyes and just letting out a deep breath.

You’re alive. Scott’s alive. Stiles is alive. And Derek, Derek is alive. Whatever else didn’t matter in that moment. You were just thankful everyone was okay. You let yourself have that moment before kicking into high gear. You stripped off your shirt, now covered in Derek’s blood, and pants leaving you in just your underwear as you put all your dirty clothes in your basket.

You eyed the dreadful thing with disdain, knowing you were going to have to do laundry tomorrow. The basket was indeed too full. You turned to go to your dresser, fixing to pull out some clothes when you heard a loud curse behind you.

You jumped slightly, using an old shirt to attempt to cover yourself and turned to look at Derek who had his eyes to the ceiling.

“Did you need something?” You asked.

“Um.. clothes. That aren’t.. Yano, just clothes.” You noticed Derek’s ears were bright red, and so was his neck. You took a moment, letting Derek’s adorable embarrassment sink in before smirking at him.

You rolled your eyes as you turned around and started sifting through your clothes for something that would fit Derek. “Don’t act like you’ve never seen a naked girl before.”

The scoff he let out made you snicker. You looked around for another minute before sighing.

“Can you.. Like put a shirt on. Please.” You rolled your eyes at him again but slipped on an oversized t-shirt that either belonged to Stiles or Scott. “And do you even own any clothes that belong to you?”

You gave Derek a funny look before sniffing the collar of the shirt. It smelled like your fabric softener and nothing else. “How do you know this isn’t mine? It smells like my stuff?”

Derek gave you a pointed look before saying, “it’s Scotts.”

“Okay, smell police.” You huffed as you walked out of the room with Derek hot on your heels.

You hesitated for a moment before opening the door to the master bedroom. If Derek seemed to notice he didn’t comment. You tried not to take in anything in the room, not the pictures or the bedspread, or the lamp that belonged to your great grandmother before she passed that was sitting on the nightstand next to your moms side of the bed.

You quickly walked to the drawer you were most familiar with and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and then the drawer next to it and picked out an old Beacon Hills Sheriff’s Department shirt. You handed them over to Derek without another word and made a hasty retreat from your parent’s room.

Derek followed behind you again, stopping at the door again. You gave him a look, shrugging your shoulders but he just kept staring.

“If you have something to say, out with it.” His eyebrows did their own form of communication, which was pretty impressive. “Yes, I’m sure.. They’re just clothes.”

He gave your face a quick once over before nodding and turning away. You watched the door frame until you heard the water in the guest bath turn on. You quickly pulled the shirt over your head, and grabbed some undergarments from their respective drawers and got completely naked before going into your own bathroom.

The shower you took was a little longer than normal, you spending more time just breathing under the warm water than actually washing. After about 20 minutes you finally decided it was time to get out, especially since your hands were starting to prune.

You toweled off, then put on a clean pair of underwear and a sports bra before looking around and realizing you left your shirt on the dresser. You shrugged, and went about getting ready for bed. You brushed your teeth, washed your face, and even put some gel in your damp hair before putting it up on the top of your head.

You opened the door to the bathroom, and walked toward the dresser for the shirt when another curse came from your desk this time. You looked to see Derek’s adorable blush had reached his cheeks this time and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“Stop acting like such a virgin.” He tore his eyes away from the ceiling to give you a glare but when he realized you were still very much naked he put them back.

You rolled your eyes, grabbing the shirt and putting it on. It covered everything that would make a grown werewolf blush so you left it at that and went to sit on the edge of the bed.

“I’m decent.” You snickered as Derek scowled at you. “Seriously, you might as well get used to it if you’re going to stay here. I’ve grown up with two guys for best friends, I’ve seen it all before. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“It’s different for me.” He said, standing up from your desk chair to pace around the room.

“And why is that?” You were generally curious now.

“Because you’re 16 and in High School and I’m 22..”

“Dude, 17. How hard is that to remember?”

“Don’t call me dude.” You rolled your eyes at him before reaching for your phone on the bed.

You didn’t have a missed text from Stiles, and one look out the window said he probably wasn’t in his room since the light was off.

“Okay, embarrasedwolf. I will try to cover up my scary bits to keep your delicate sensibilities in tact.” You could feel Derek’s scowl without even having to look up from your phone.

You did look up after a while, noticing him staring at a picture on your wall that was taken on your 15th birthday. It was one of the last pictures you had with your parents. It was the day you got your learners, them smiling at you with pride as you held up the paper license with joy.

You waited for Derek to ask, but he never did. Maybe that’s why you liked Derek so much, why you wanted to help, because he knew exactly how you felt.

“What are we going to do Derek?” You asked after the longest time.

He slowly turned around, his eyes finding yours. “I don’t know.”

You took that for what it was, his honest opinion. There was no posturing, no sugar-coating, just Derek admitting what you knew all along. How utterly unprepared and screwed you all were.

\----

School was canceled for remainder of the week so they could repair the damages the alpha left, but you didn’t sleep in too late, instead you were up and padding around the downstairs with no Derek in sight. You hoped but were not disappointed when you found the guest room empty.

Stiles and Scott were having a bro day to heal Scott’s broken heart so you spent most of the day alternating between catching up on sleep and tv. You managed to roll out of bed and shower and put on something that didn’t have a stain on it and wasn’t sweatpants.

You dragged your laundry monster down the stairs and started it, feeling accomplished at the one thing you did today before texting Allison to see if she could pick you up and take you to get your car since Stiles’s jeep was in the shop.

She agreed, saying she had an hour before she was meeting Lydia for a movie and you thanked her profusely. About 15 minutes later after texting on and off with her, you were climbing into her car and giving her a quick hug.

“So..” Allison began as she pulled out of your driveway and you sighed. “Hey don’t give me that look, I wasn’t even going to mention Scott.” You raised an impressive eyebrow at her which made her flip you off. “I was going to say, why didn’t you tell me you have a boyfriend?”

You almost spit the water you just took a sip of all over her nice leather interior. “I what now?”

“Have a boyfriend. Lydia said you turned down Matt Dahler for a date Friday.” It took you a minute to remember the awkward encounter with Matt and then you started laughing.

“I don’t have a boyfriend.. I kind of just froze when he asked and he must have assumed because he delivered a pizza to my house the other night when a family friend was over.” She gave you a funny look but didn’t press.

“Oh, well then why didn’t you tell him that? He’s cute.” You shrugged as you put the cap on your water.

“I was honestly shocked he asked and kind of stuttered like an idiot so I don’t think he’d reconsider.”

“Oh come on, Y/N. You can not be that dense.” You gave her a hurt look and then elbowed her when she started laughing. “All the guys at school either want to date you or sleep with you.”

You watched her with your jaw hanging open before laughing. “Good one Ally.”

“No, I’m serious. Lydia wonders all the time why you never date. She honestly thought you and Stiles were a thing until she found out about you and Jackson.” You winced at that.

“I guess I should apologize to Lydia for that, huh?”

“Why did you do it?” You looked at Allison, who wasn’t giving you a judgy look which you were thankful for.

“Me and Lydia.. We’ve been arch enemies since the third grade when she moved to Beacon Hills.” Allison didn’t bother interrupting, instead just waiting for you to continue. “I-- I was jealous because for the first time since I met Stiles, he liked another girl besides me and.. Well, I don’t know if you know this but I’m very protective over him.”

Allison laughed lightly as she pulled into the parking lot of the clinic. “I’ve noticed.”

“Well.. Stiles is my best friend so when he started to moon over Lydia I got jealous.. And then she snubbed him. Like seriously, she acted like she was too good for Stiles and Stiles is a catch okay. He’s smart, funny, adorable, and so loyal--”

“And you’re sure you’re not in love with him?” You gave Allison a flat look which had her holding her hands up in surrender.

“No, he’s my platonic soulmate and will always be my person, and no matter what anyone thinks.. Me and Stiles are not in love with each other.” Allison made a hmm sound like she didn’t believe you but let you continue on without interruption. “Anyway.. When Lydia snubbed Stiles and called him a weirdo I may or may not have went into mama bear mode and put glitter glue in her hair.”

Allison’s scandalized look had you laughing your ass off. “You did not.”

“Oh I did.” You sighed dreamily remembering that day like it just happened. “It took three teachers to break up our little brawl and I got put in time out for like the rest of the year and Lydia had to cut her perfect strawberry blonde hair. It was epic, ask any teacher still at Beacon Elementary and they will tell you I’m a third grade legend.”

“So you seriously hate each other over something that happened like 7 years ago?”

“Well when you put it like that it makes it sound so petty.” You did not miss Allison’s eye roll. “Okay, so maybe it is petty.. But she still treats Stiles and Scott like the gum on the bottom of her Gucci heels.”

“Well, maybe she treats them like that because she knows it will get a rise out of you.” You opened your mouth to respond, but closed it with a click.

Damn Allison Argent. You knew you shouldn’t have become friends with her.

“Maybe if you two just sat down with a mediator and talked… you could move past this.”

“You offering?” You asked sarcastically as you gathered up your belongs.

“Lydia is my best friend… but so are you. And having you two silently glaring at each other while you think I don’t notice at Lunch is getting old.” You bit your lip, looking down at your hands instead of at Allison. “So do you think you could try.. For me?”

You finally looked up and into Allison’s pleading puppy dog eyes--damn her, again-- and sighed.

“Fine. But only for you and if she starts being a little shit I reserve the right to leave...or throw glitter glue on her hair again.” Allison gave you a blinding smile, dimples coming out on full display as she threw herself across the console and into your personal space.

You caught a mouthful of chocolate curls which had you sputtering as she hugged you tighter. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.”

You finally pushed her off and gave her a pointed look accompanied by an accusing finger. “I knew you and your dimples would be the death of me Argent. I just knew it.”

You left Allison’s smug laughter behind as you got out of the car and flipped her off as you made your way to your own. Allison pulled off when you were safely inside your own vehicle and you checked your messages but nothing from Scott or Stiles so you decided to just head home.

It didn’t take long before you were climbing up your front steps. You noticed Noah’s cruiser wasn’t home so you figured he was at the station. You texted Stiles as you opened the door, asking him if he got a new battery for Roscoe yet, when you jumped in surprise of someone lounging on your couch.

“I swear.. I will put a bell on you.” You threatened Derek, ignoring his superior smirk as he turned his attention back to the tv. And the documentary on Discover. “Seriously, this is what you do with your down time?”

Derek didn’t rise to the bait, instead just focused harder on the tv and you realized you weren’t going to get to have a snark fest with him while he was immersed in the glory of ancient Egyptians pyramids. You huffed, dropping your backpack on the floor next to the chair Derek usually occupied and made your way into the kitchen.

You looked in your fridge, expecting to find nothing but when you did you found a brand new carton of milk, orange juice, eggs, what looked to be a pound of bacon, and various fruits and veggies. Along with water and coke, and some steaks.

“Uhhh.. am I in someone else's house?” You mumbled, reaching for a water before shutting the door.

“You can’t keep living off take out.” You jumped at Derek’s voice, turning to smack him in the chest.

He just raised an unimpressed eyebrow at you before reaching around you to open back up the fridge.

“I don’t live off take out.” You said petulantly, moving around him to go back in the living room and pointedly ignoring Derek’s scoff from behind you. “Okay maybe I do.. but .. you didn’t have to buy groceries. I have plenty of money, I’ll pa--”

You were cut off by Derek. “I have plenty of money too.”

You looked at him, his face serious, and you realized with a sudden flare of anger he did. He had insurance money just like you did. You had a pretty penny in the bank waiting for your 18th birthday because of it and a lawsuit, you didn’t even want to think about how much Derek had from his whole family.

“Okay then.” You let the subject drop and reached for your book bag.

You let Derek get back to his documentary and pulled out your homework you had fallen behind on since all the craziness happened. You worked in silence, the hum of the tv and Derek’s close proximity helping you focus on everything you needed to do. You weren’t dumb, but you weren’t Stiles or Lydia level smart so it took you a couple hours to catch up on math and science, but breezed past history, english, and economics with no problem. Which left only french.

Which you hated. With a passion. Not only was it Miss Morrell’s class, it was a stupid and complicated language. It also didn’t help that she looked at you like she could see inside your soul every class since you skipped out on counseling, again. You mourned the fact you had to sign up for a language alone since Scott tested out with Spanish and Stiles was able to test out with Polish.

You could get by in Polish because of Stiles and Claudia growing up, but you were nowhere near fluent. You sighed heavily, letting your head drop on the table with a loud thud about two hours later. You looked up from the table, pouting at Derek who was watching you with amusement.

“Kill me. Kill me now.” He rolled his eyes at your theatrics before leaning over and plucking the french worksheet from the table.

“All this groaning over French. C'est l'une des langues les plus faciles à apprendre.” You couldn’t help but stare at Derek’s perfect French.

“Seriously, you can speak French?” He shrugged his shoulders, before sitting up from the couch to look at the paper in more detail.

“Along with Spanish, Porchugese, Manderin, German, Russian, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, and Italian. My ASL is rusty but I know more than enough to get by.” You were surprised a fly hadn’t flown into your mouth with how wide it was hanging open.

“You know 12 languages.” He just shrugged his shoulders as if it was nothing. “That’s awesome. Help me. Please. Please. Please please please please--”

“If you shut up, I will.” You gave him a blinding smile as you handed him your pencil. “I’m not doing it for you, I will help you.”

“But doing it for me _will_ help me.” You poked out your bottom lip like a child and gave him a pout but he seemed immune.

“À prendre ou a laisser.” You gave Derek your best bitch face as his eyes looked over the paper.

“What the hell does that mean?” Derek’s insufferable smirk finally had you relenting. “Ugh, fine. Help me.”

Derek’s small smile made you stop glaring as he stood up and walked to the kitchen with your paper. You followed behind, pencil in hand as he put the paper on the table.

“You start this, I’ll start dinner.” You watched Derek open the fridge and pull out the pack of steaks he bought along with some mushrooms and onions as you sat on the kitchen chair.

You couldn’t believe this was Derek. This Derek that bought you groceries and helped you with homework was completely different than the Derek who refused to trust you or let you in.

“Y/N?” You jumped in your seat noticing Derek was closer than he was a second ago.

“Huh?”

“I asked if you were allergic to anything?” You just shook your head no, not trusting your voice right now.

You watched as Derek started chopping veggies and heating the pan on the stove for the steaks. You tried to focus on the homework but with Derek working in your kitchen you couldn’t. Your eyes kept finding him, whether it be flipping the steaks or grilling the veggies or chopping up a salad.

You asked him some questions, like correct pronunciation or verb structure which he provided the answer but only after you tried to figure it out yourself, which was super annoying. You finally finished the sheet just as dinner was ready.

Your phone beeped with an incoming text and you went back into the living room to get it and came back to a plate of grilled mushrooms, bell peppers, and onions with a huge medium steak--No, not rare Derek-- and a chopped salad with tomatoes and cucumbers in a light vinaigrette dressing.

“I think I’m in love.” You joked, plopping down in your chair and looking at Derek whose shoulders were tense as he stared at the plate. “Dude, I was kidding.. Lighten up.”

Derek mumbled something that sounded a lot like _don’t-call-me-dude_ which you ignored by looking at your phone.

**[Stiles] Bro time isn’t helping Scott stop mourning Allison breakup so I’m taking him to the lookout to get wasted. You in?**

You thought about telling Stiles it was no use because werewolves couldn’t get drunk, but decided to keep that fun fact to yourself as a big F U to Scott who you were still mad at.

You looked at Derek, who seemed to relax a little and start eating and then back to your phone. You couldn’t bring yourself to leave, and you knew that was a problem. That was a huge problem. Monumentally huge problem.

“What’s wrong? You smell--”

“How many times have I told you not to monitor my emotions, it’s creepy.” You snapped, grabbing your phone to bail out on the bro fest. You’re sudden emotion’s aside, you were not about to listen to Scott mope about Allison. That was Stiles’s job.

You started eating, and couldn’t hold back the moan at the first bite. The steak was delicious and you weren’t proud of how long it’s been since you’ve had a decent home cooked meal. You could get used to this, and that was dangerous. You refused to meet Derek’s eyes as you ate in silence, then offered to clear everything away. You were silently doing the dishes when Derek came back downstairs from his apparent shower and leaned against the counter, staring.

“What?”

“What’s wrong?” You looked at Derek for the first time but couldn’t meet his eyes. You felt like a child.

“Nothing, it’s just been a long day.” You put up the last dish in the drain before washing your hands and turning to leave the kitchen.

You didn’t get a chance to leave though because Derek caught your arm and brought you to a stop. “You know I can tell when you’re lying.”

You sighed, looking up at Derek and connecting eyes with him for the first time. He was close enough to you for your breath to catch and you felt your heart start racing, and you knew he could too. You tried to open your mouth but nothing you could say would go over well so you remained silent.

He slowly let go of you as he took a step back and you wished he wouldn’t have but that was enough of a rejection for you to get the hint.

“Thanks for dinner.. It was delicious.” You grabbed your phone and finished French homework before going back into the living room.

You packed up your book bag but left it where it was and went upstairs without another word. You went into your room, making sure to close the door behind you and flopped down on your bed. You laid there in silence, the only noise coming from your curtain rustling as the breeze came through and your phone beeping.

Stiles’s texts became more and more illegible the later it became and you knew he was drunk when he started on a tangent of Lydia’s hair in a text. You sighed, locking your phone and decided you needed ice cream.

That’s what you get when a boy doesn’t like you back. You’ve seen it in all the movies. You slipped on a pair of flip flops that was in the corner of your room and opened the door and took the stairs two at a time.

“I’m going to get some ice-cream from the store down the street, you want anything?” Derek raised one of his eyebrows at you but shook his head no and turned back toward the tv that was still on the Discovery channel.

It was no longer about ancient Egyptian pyramids, it seemed to move to prehistoric snakes. Such riveting entertainment.

You made it to the gas station/corner store in record time, avoiding looking too closely at the same gas pumps you defended Derek in front of. The same cashier from that night was behind the counter with his headphones in, again. You honestly didn’t know how he hasn’t been fired yet.

“Chunky Monkey or Cherry Garcia… decisions, decisions.” You were still torn between the two when the bell rang signaling someone else entering but you didn’t feel the need to turn around until you heard them speak.

“Excuse me, can I get 30 on pump 5? Thanks sweetheart.” Your blood ran cold as that same sickening sweet voice rang out through the store.

You turned slowly, trying to stay hidden but you noticed the blonde hair green eyed monster was already looking at you. She was smiling innocently before stalking your way. You didn’t move as she came to stand next to you, eyes browsing the selection of chips that was behind the ice cream cooler.

“Hmm.. barbecue or _fiery_ hot Cheetos.. So many choices.” You clenched your fists as she reached for the bag of lays chips, inspecting them nonchalantly.

“Go to hell Kate.” Was all you could put together as every fiber in your body trembled with anger.

“Aw, sweetie.. Don’t get so bent out of shape. They were just werewolves.” You ripped the bag of chips out of her hand, throwing them on the floor before grabbing her jacket and pushing her back into the cooler.

“They were people.” You spat. “ _Innocent_ people you sick, twisted bi--”

“Ah ah..” You froze when you felt a hard stab in your stomach. You looked down to see Kate’s gun pressed against your sternum threateningly. “Seeing how fond Derek is of you, I’d hate to have to kill you.” You felt your eye twitch at the mention of Derek, and let her go. “Besides, I promised Luca he could have you.”

You shuddered at that, backing up as she adjusted her jacket and hair. She gave you a once over as you glared daggers at her. You refused to flinch as she brushed a stand of hair out of your face, smiling viciously.

“Derek did always like them pretty… I’m just so surprised he liked them young too. I guess we were more alike than I thought.”

You slapped her hand away at that. “Don’t talk about him. Don’t even say his name.”

“Oh sweetie..” She gave you a condescending smile as she leaned in close. “The blind loyalty.. Those heart eyes.. That trust you feel.. That’s exactly how he felt about _me_.”

All the air had left your lungs as Kate sauntered away and out the door without so much as a glance behind her. You felt like a punch would have hurt less than the knowledge slap she just gave you. Suddenly, it all made sense. Everything Kate said in the burnt Hale house, how she was able to get in and burn down a house full of werewolves, everything.

You ran out of the store, the cashier none the wiser and was able to make it to the car and home without hyperventilating. Derek swung the door open as soon as you made it to the porch, and you didn’t hesitate to wrap your arms around him.

“Y/N what the hell--” You were immediately ripped out of his arms and faced with piercing blue eyes as his nostrils flared. “Why do you smell like Kate?”

“She-- she was at the store. I don’t know if she was following me-- but she was there and she-- and she--”

You couldn’t form the words as Derek steered you inside and closed the door. “Hey, slow down.. It’s okay--”

“How is what she did to you okay?” You didn’t mean to snap at him, and as soon as the words were out of your mouth you wished you could take them back.

Derek was staring at you like you just slapped him. “What.”

“She.. how can you just stand there and pretend like she didn’t--”

“Burn my whole family alive? I know what she did Y/N!” He growled, stomping away from you and leaning against the wall.

“Why didn’t you--” You froze at Derek’s deep growl and blue eyes as they were staring at you with so much agony and disgust.

“You don’t think I don’t live with this everyday? You don’t think I know how fucking stupid I was to think a gorgeous older woman wanted me. You don’t think I think about that night every second of every day and agonize over the fact of how I practically drew her a blueprint to my house. How I told her every intimate detail of my family while we were basking in the afterglow of sex--”

“Derek stop--” You made to reach for him, to try and calm him down but he moved away from the wall and started pacing the floor.

“You don’t think I lie awake every night and still smell the ashes of the house and her Chanel perfume that she left in the wake of my whole families destruction. Everything you’re thinking right now, I know. It was my all my fault because--”

You stared at Derek, mouth open before walking up to him and slapping him as hard as you could. He stopped talking, stopped pacing and just lifted a hand to his cheek as he looked at you with glistening eyes that were back to their kaleidoscope green.

“I know what you think I’m thinking.. But it sure as hell wasn’t that.” You cut Derek off as he opened his mouth by placing your hand over his. “Shut up and listen to me for once in your life… what Kate did, was _not_ your fault.”

Derek slowly lifted his hand, eyes never leaving yours as he removed your hand from him mouth and let it drop by your side.

“I have to go.”

You grabbed Derek’s arm as he brushed by you, forcing him to turn around. “No, Derek.. Please don’t go.”

He stopped, eyes going from your hand on his arm and back to you. You felt your eyes burning, tears threatening to fall, but he just removed your hand and kept going and you couldn’t force your feet to go after him.

“Derek.” You called, but the door slamming was the only response you got. “It wasn’t your fault..” You’re voice echoed through the empty room as you finally let your body crumble.

You didn’t know how long you were on the living room floor, head in your hands as you rested them on your knees to breath. You kept seeing Kate’s vicious smile every time you closed your eyes and Derek’s venomous words every time you opened them.

You couldn’t believe all the things he said, all that guilt he was carrying. It made you want to drive over to the Argents and rip every one of them limb from limb. There was no way Chris couldn’t know about this, how could he not know how sick his sister was? How far she went to murder a family just because they were werewolves.

You jumped at the sound of your phone ringing, not even checking who it was before answering. “Derek?”

“ _What? No.. It’s Scott. Why would Derek be calling you_?” You ran a hand over your face, before sighing.

“No--No reason.. What is it Scott?”

“ _So apparently werewolves can’t get drunk so I’m bringing Stiles back home, can he stay with you.. I don’t want the sheriff to find him like this._ ”

“Yeah. Of course.. Just--yeah.”

You hung up the phone and quickly got to your feet before looking around the room to see if you needed to hide anything, but as always, there was no trace of Derek. If you knew better, you would have thought him being in your home was just a figment of your imagination, but you did know better.

You could still feel the tension from the fight, the anger, the guilt, the disgust, the sadness like an echo tainting the room.

The morning passed by in a blur. Derek never came back, and you had a feeling it had nothing to do with the fact that Stiles was at your house. Even for him to be hungover he seemed to realize something happened to you last night but you made it clear first thing you didn’t want to talk about it, but that didn’t stop him from sending more and more concerning glances your way the rest of the night

—

It had been a week and the school was finally repaired. At least there was something to keep your mind off Derek and the shocking secret you found out the other night. Scallison drama, and rumors of what happened the night the alpha attacked. Apparently, the sheriff was looking for Derek but couldn’t find him for questioning and the whole school thought he was a murderer. You hit Scott and Stiles hard for that first thing but it didn’t faze them.

“It's just weird. Everybody's talking about what happened last week, and nobody knows it was us.” Allison said, turning toward you and Lydia.Who you were not glaring at.

You should totally win a prize for self control because all you wanted to do since last night was hit someone. Hard.

“Thank God for the protection of minors.” You rolled your eyes as you made your way down the hallway, keeping an eye out for Scott or Stiles.

“Lydia, do you think I made the wrong decision?”

“About that jacket with that dress?” Lydia scoffed. “Absolutely.”

You felt your lip twitch at that as Allison nudged Lydia’s shoulder. “You know what I mean.”

“Hello? Scott locked us in that classroom and left us for dead. He's lucky we're not pressing charges or making him pay our therapy bills.”

“Hey.” You snapped, eyeing Lydia warningly but she didn’t offer another comment and just kept walking into the classroom. “We’ll this is where I get off of Scallison station, I’ll see you at lunch.”

Allison gave you a pitiful excuse for a glare and you squeezed her shoulder lightly before turning around and heading to find your two best friends.

The bell rang just as you turned the corner to see Noah, who was in uniform, and Stiles talking.

“Don't you two have a test to get to?” He asked, eyeing you as well when you saddled up next to Stiles.

“What's going on? Did you find Derek yet?” You held your tongue as Noah rolled his eyes as Stiles then gave you a look that concerned parent’s get.

“I'm workin' on it. You go take your tests.” He made a shooing motion, fixing to turn around but Stiles stopped him.

“All right, Dad, Listen to me. No! This is really important. You have to be careful tonight, okay? _Especially_ tonight.” You gave Stiles a funny look just like Noah was.

“Stiles, I'm always careful.” He said slowly, peeling Stiles’s hands off his uniform.

“Dad, you've never dealt with this kind of thing before, okay? At least not like this.”

“I know, which is why I brought in people who have. State detectives. Go take your test.” You looked behind Noah to see two men in suits conversing silently between themselves. Noah gave Stiles a pat on the back and you a kiss on the head before joining them.

Stiles sighed, but turned around and headed toward class. You followed behind him, narrowly making it in your seats in the test lab before the last bell rang.

“Hey, what the hell was that about?” You hissed at Stiles but he didn’t get a chance to tell you when Mr. Harris started talking.

“You have 45 minutes to complete the test.” Mr. Harris laid a packet on Allison’s desk-- which was weird for her to be in this testing block-- to pass back.

You watched as she turned around, her eyes connecting with Scott’s then quickly looking away before turning back in her seat. You reached up, patting Scott on the back since you chose to sit behind him.

“25% of your grade can be earned right now by simply writing your name on the cover of the blue book. However, as happens every year, one of you will inexplicably fail to put your name on the cover, and I'll be left yet again questioning my decision to ever become a teacher...So lets get the disappointment over with. Begin.”

You rolled your eyes at Harris before scribbling your name on the cover of the booklet. It took all your willpower to focus on each chemistry question, but you managed. You heard Stiles’s familiar chicken scratch behind you, the only thing seeming to soothe your nerves as you made your way through each question. Until it didn’t.

Soon your mind filled with ancient Egyptians pyramids, which brought you back to dinner with Derek, and then seeing Kate, and then finding out what she did. A loud snap brought you back, and when you looked up everyone, including Mr. Harris, was looking at you and the pencil you just snapped in half.

“I’m s-sorry.” You mumbled, fixing to reach for another one when Stiles tapped you on the back with his spare.

His concerning look was too much you to process so you just grabbed the pencil and quickly turned around to try and finish the test. It didn’t take long to finish, not caring whether you made a good grade or not, you just had to finish. You weren’t sure how long you sat there, swirling the pencil in your hands when Scott started breathing heavily in front of you.

“Scotty..” You sat up in your seat, hand reaching over the desk to connect with Scott’s back but it caught air when he jumped up from his seat.

“Mr. McCall where do you think your going?” Scott didn’t answer as he ran out and you quickly stood up to follow. “Miss Y/L/N, what the--” You didn’t wait for a yes or no from Harris as you grabbed your finished test, and slammed it on the desk. “Mr. Stilinski sit down,” was the last thing you heard from the room.

“Scott?” You yelled after him, stopping when in the hall when you saw his book bag. You bent down to pick it up, putting it on your shoulder as you pulled out your phone and dialed Scott’s number.

The ringing was coming from the boys locker room a couple doors down the hall so you followed the noise until you pushed open the door and then hung up.

You heard water running, so you were careful to avert your eyes in case someone else was in there, but when you walked by the lockers and saw no one, you went to the sound of water.

“Scott?” You whispered, turning the corner and praying you weren’t going to see anyone else showering.

“Y/N--I can't--” You dropped Scott’s book bag and went over to Scott who was now soaking wet and shirtless, standing under cold water.

“What's happening? Are you shifting?” You asked walking over to him to turn off the water, not caring if you got wet or not.

“No. No, I can't breathe.” Scott was hyperventilating, choking on air and you bent down for his book-bag, hoping what you were looking for was still in its original spot.

Your hand grasped the cool plastic of Scott’s emergency inhaler, so you pulled it out and held it to his mouth. “Here, use this. Come on..”

You held the back of his head as he took one puff after another, just like you’ve had to do countless times before when he had an asthma attack growing up.

He pulled back from you, still wheezing but not as bad thankfully. “I was having an asthma attack?”

“No, you were having a panic attack. But thinking you were having an asthma attack actually stopped the panic attack.” You gave him a forced laugh. “Irony.”

“How did you know to do that?” He asked, taking the inhaler from you this time and inhaling one last pump.

“Stiles used to get them after Claudia died.. Remember?” And you also had them after your parent’s passed, but you weren’t going to admit that out loud. “Not fun, huh?” You nudged his shoulder, before sinking to the ground with him beside you.

“I Iooked at her, and it was like someone hit me in the ribs with a hammer.” You might be mad at Scott but right now, he needed you so you put your anger aside and linked your arm through his.

“Yeah, it's called heartbreak. There’s about two billion songs written about it.” You’re whole left side was wet as you cuddled closer to him, but you didn’t dare move.

“I can't stop thinking about her.” You winced as he let his head fall back against the tiles with a loud thud.

You sat there for a long time, just breathing beside each other and letting Scott calm down before you tried to help.

“Well, you could think about this.. her dad's a werewolf hunter, and you're a werewolf, so it was bound to become an issue.” Scott tensed beside you as he threw a look your way. “That wasn't helpful.. I mean, yeah, you got dumped, and it's supposed to suck--”

“No, that's not it. It was like I could feel everything in the room, everyone else's emotions.” 

You were fixing to open your mouth when Stiles’s voice startled you. “It's got to be the full moon.” 

You shot him a glare but it didn’t register with him or you when you realized what he just said.

“Full moon?” You clarified and Stiles just continued on like you didn’t say anything.

“So we‘ll lock you up in your room Later just like we planned. That way the Alpha, who is your boss, can't get to you either.” You looked between Scott and Stiles, trying not to freak out over the fact you forgot it was a full moon.

“I think we need to do a Iot more than Iock me in my room.” Scott said as he unhooked his arm from yours and stood up, offering you a hand as well.

“Wait, you mean because if you get out, you'd be caught by hunters?” You asked but he just shook his head.

“No. Because if I get out, I think I might kill someone.” You let go of Scott’s hand after he pulled you to your feet, eyes searching to see if maybe he was joking, but the way he was looking at you, you knew that wasn’t the case.

\---

The rest of the day and lunch passed by without any incident, thank god. You didn’t think you could handle anymore excitement for one day. Lydia bailed on your mediation session, which you had no problem with because you were going to bail too. You could not deal with Lydia freaking Martin right now, instead you spent your lunch in the library surrounded by mythology books on werewolves.

If Miss Craston kept shooting you more concerning glances as you read from three different books at once, well that was her problem.

The books, however, didn’t offer any insight other than what you already knew. The full moon was dangerous, it turned werewolves into bloodthirsty monsters unless they had control. Scott barely had control with Allison, and now without? It was safe to say you were freaking out.

Freaking out so much you even texted Derek. Whose number you may or may not of swiped from the sheriff’s station database. Seriously, hacking in there wasn’t something you did often, but it was seriously too easy. You almost thought to tell Noah to hire Danny to upgrade security, but now that werewolves and animal attacks and god knows what else keeps popping up, you thought a little insider information couldn’t hurt.

**[Y/N] Full moon tonight… Scott & Allison broke up so his control is slipping.**

The reply was instantaneous

**[Derek] I won’t let him hurt anyone.**

**[Y/N] Are you going to be okay?**

**[Derek] I’ll be fine.**

You hesitated over the keyboard, fingers itching to ask him to please come back to the house tonight but you didn’t. Instead, you put your phone in your pocket and started to walk toward the lacrosse pitch, figuring that it was better than coming home to an empty house.You were fixing to head out the double doors when you saw Lydia turn the same corner, hair frazzled and cheeks flushed. You rolled your eyes, figuring her and Jackson were fooling around before practice. You paused though when you saw who came around the corner a few beats after her, Scott.

Scott whose hair was more of a mess than usual, and whose lips were swollen and tinged pink.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” You didn’t mean for it to be so loud but it got the attention of them both as they froze like a deer in headlights.

Scott seemed to snap out of shock first, as he smirked at you. “What are you looking at?”

“About 12 years of friendship bursting into flames.” Scott rolled his eyes, not even bothering to say anything as he opened the double doors and walked outside.

Lydia straightened her back, eyes calculating as she looked at you. “Like you have room to talk.”

You laughed at that, before running a hand down your face. “You think I care about Jackson’s feelings in this? You should have broken up with that tool forever ago. I care--”

“What so you can have him?” She snapped, and you just stared at her. For someone so smart, she could be so stupid.

“No, not so I can have him. Because he doesn’t respect you, and you have to act like a moron for his benefit and his precious ego. I couldn’t care less about Jackson, Lydia.”

“Then why did you sleep with him?”

“Because he was there!” The words were out of your mouth before you had a chance to think. “Because I was 15 and just lost both my parents and I just wanted to feel something other than grief and he was there to help. It wasn’t about feelings, it wasn’t even about you, not really, it was about me and my pain and how for an hour or so I wasn’t feeling any.” 

The look she was giving you made your skin feel two sizes too small and you couldn’t even bare to look at her anymore, instead you pushed by her and out the door. A couple of seconds later you heard the door open and the familiar footsteps of her heels clicking behind you.

You ignored her in favor of glaring at Scott who was talking to Stiles on the bench. Well, talking was an understatement. Stiles looked like he was talking and Scott was ignoring him. Stiles gave you a small smile as you past and sat on the bleachers, not noticing your daggers aimed at Scott.

“Let's go!” Coach yelled, causing everyone to line up and shoot the ball toward the net for practice. 

You watched as Scott got shut down by Carter and some senior before making it to the goal, smirking wildly until he went again and knocked them both down along with a hard blow to Danny that had you on your feet and running toward the pitch.

“Danny!” You heard Jackson’s concerned yell and you followed to where everyone was crowding around him before turning back and pushing Scott.

“What the hell was that?” You snapped as Scott tugged off his helmet and glared at you.

“What? He's twice the size of me.” He shrugged but you pushed him again, earning a couple low whistles from the group.

“You know that’s not the fucking point.” You heard Scott’s low growl before you saw his eyes rimmed in gold.

“Y/N, stop.” Stiles said, coming between you and Scott.

“Dude, what was that? Everybody likes Danny… Now everybody's gonna hate you.” Stiles gave Scott a concerned bro look but you just rolled your eyes.

“I don't care.” Scott said turning around to walk off leaving Stiles torn whether to follow.

You made the choice for him as you tugged Stiles over to where Danny was being checked by the team medic.

“Is he okay?” Lydia asked, coming to stand by Jackson.

“Yeah, it Iooks Iike he just has a bloody nose--” You looked up from Danny to see why Jackson stopped talking, when you noticed it too.

“What?” Lydia snapped at Jackson then at you for staring.

“Your lipstick..”

Lydia frowned, reaching into her purse for a compact and laughed when she opened the mirror. “Oh, huh, wonder how that happened.”

“Yeah. I wonder.” Jackson said, narrowing his eyes at his girlfriend but when you turned toward Stiles to see if he saw, he was glaring at Scott with just as much anger.

Well, shit.

Coach called practice early what with the injury to Danny and the game tomorrow, so you slipped out to the parking lot unseen, letting Stiles sort out Scott. You knew if you had a go with Scott right now, Stiles might not be able to fix your friendship. Besides, Stiles deserved to have it out with him for Lydia, not you on his behalf.

You made it home with no unexpected surprises, until you pulled onto your street and saw two black SUV’s parked on the curb next to your house. They left plenty of room in the driveway for you to pull in, so you did. You noticed not one person was outside when you got out which could only mean one thing. You tried the door knob, shoulders tense when it gave way and opened right up without you needing a key. You carefully opened the door, peeking inside before slowly walking in.

Everything looked just how you left it, which was a surprise. You expected the place to be trashed but when you turned the corner and saw Chris Argent sitting on your couch, absentmindedly flipping through an old magazine, you knew why.

You knew the other hunters wouldn’t have thought twice, especially Luca and Kate, but Chris? Chris wouldn’t stoop that low. He’d rather sit calmly and smile at you to threaten you.

In a weird way, you respected that.

You jumped when you heard someone coming up behind you from the kitchen, letting out a deep breath when you realized it wasn’t Luca. What did strike you as odd was it was one of the state detectives that was roughly Chris’s age. You glanced at Chris, who was still flipping through the same magazine, and sighed.

“Seriously, you do know it’s against the law to break into someone’s house. If anything, he should.” You pointed to the detective who gave you a small smile.

It wasn’t like Luca or Kates’s though, there was no malicious intent to it. He was just amused and an asshole.

“Tonight’s the full moon.” Chris said, looking up from the magazine and at you for the first time since you walked in.

“Congratulations on your excellent lunar calendar knowledge, now get the hell out of my house.” Chris chuckled along with the detective.

“Which one of your friends are you willing to let die tonight?” You threw Chris a glare before coming to stand toe to toe with him.

“I’m not scared of you.” You knew you shouldn’t but your couldn’t help yourself, so you poked him in the chest. “Or your sister.” Poke. “Or any of your fucking hunters, now get out.”

Chris raised an eyebrow at you but gave you a small smile. “You might want to keep track of your wolves tonight… I’d hate for there to be collateral damage.”

You contemplated hitting him but he moved out of your personal space before you let your bad judgment take control.

“You touch one hair on Derek’s head, I’ll come for yours.” Chris just smirked at you as he walked away, gesturing for the detective to follow.

You followed behind the pair, slamming the door behind them and flipping the dead lock. You rested your head on the wood, eyes squeezed shut when you heard footsteps coming down the stairs. You turned around, hand reaching for something to use as a weapon. When you saw the familiar scruff come in to view you relaxed, but still contemplated throwing the decorative dish that held your keys by the door at his face.

“That’s what you chose to defend yourself with?” Derek’s eyebrows were doing that confused angry pinch which made you roll your eyes.

“Well, it might not work against a werewolf but I’m sure if I smashed this over a hunters head it would hurt.” You glared at him before putting the key bowl back on the table by the door with a loud thud.

You felt Derek’s eyes on you as you pushed by him to go upstairs, eventually hearing footsteps to follow. You left your bedroom door open as you grabbed your cross-country bag from the floor and put it on the bed. Derek settled into the doorframe, watching you silently pack the bag with some spare clothes and something to sleep in, along with your phone, iPad, and its charger.

“Take a picture it’ll last longer.” You mumbled, knowing full and well Derek could hear you.

His snort made you smile, but you hid it by turning your back on him.

“Did you mean it?” You’re hand hovered over the bag as you turned to see Derek assessing you.

If possible, it looked like he aged 10 years overnight as he leaned against the doorframe. “I’ve never lied to you Derek.”

You watched Derek watch you. 10 minutes passed, then 15, finally you sighed as you picked up your cross-country bag and slung it over your shoulders. You were fixing to push by Derek to head to Scott’s but Derek blocked your way.

“You threatened Chris for me.” Derek said it like it was an accusation and you felt like pulling your hair out.

You dropped the bag on the floor, before throwing your hands up in the air. “I’m so fucking done with this.”

Derek’s eyebrows climbed to a record high at your dramatics, but you honestly couldn’t believe him.

“Derek, you are the most stubborn, annoying, self-sacraficing, vague, know-it-all dick I’ve ever met in my entire life.” You crossed your arms over your chest, glaring at him. “But somehow, you became a friend. Someone I trust to have my back. Someone I look to when shit hits the fan.. Deal with it.”

“Deal with it..”

“Yes, deal with it. I’m not going anywhere, even when you think terrible things about me. Like how I must only like you because your good looking, or how you thought I would ever in a million years blame you for the fire, I--”

“I overreacted and I’m sorry.” You snapped your mouth closed at that, staring at Derek, who just apologized. To _you_.

“Are you sick?”

Derek’s eyebrows did that complicated thing you’ve come to associate with confusion. “What.”

“Are you sick? Can werewolves get sick? Are you dying? Am I?” You took a step toward him, a slow smile spreading across your face. “Because you just apologized. To me, Derek. This is monumental.”

Derek gave you a low warning growl but you couldn’t wipe the smile from your face. “I’m being serious. I’m not good with this emotional stuff.. Except anger. Anger, I’m good at.”

You let the smile fall from your face as you looked at Derek as he shuffled his feet.

“Me too.” He looked up from his feet, giving you a small smile that you wanted to see more and more on his face.

“You’re the first person who knows about what Kate did.” You raised an eyebrow at that.

“Laura--”

“I couldn’t ever bring myself to tell her I was the one respo--”

You cut him off before he could even form that thought. “You aren’t responsible for the fire, Derek.” His low scoff was still loud enough for you to hear, but you didn’t push the comfortable truce you were in. “And I’m the only person who will know about what Kate did.”

“What about Stiles?”

“I tell him everything… but this? This is between us.” Derek’s look of relief and that small private smile he gave you made your heart skip a beat.

Derek’s smile faltered though. It fell away as his eyes went to your chest where you were sure he heard how affected a simple smile made you.

“Y/N..”

“I know.” You said quickly, wincing at the squeakiness of your voice. You coughed once, before straightening up and looking at Derek who had a far off look in his eyes. “I know.”

He gave you a quick nod as he took a couple steps back leaving a significant and heartbreaking distance between you.

“I should get going.. Me and Stiles are going to Scott’s to keep an eye on him.” Derek gave you another nod as you picked up your cross-country bag from the floor.

“Be careful, if Scott’s control is slipping he might hurt--”

“Scott won’t hurt me.” You snapped, wincing again at the anger in your voice.

You took a deep breath, then let it out and gave Derek a forced smile before turning around.

“You’re lying.” Derek’s voice ran out but you made yourself put one foot in front of the other and went out the door.

\----

You were silent the whole way to Scott’s, and much to your surprise, so was Stiles.

“You okay?” You finally asked as you climbed out of the jeep and adjusted your bag on your shoulder.

“Fine. You?” You gave him an assessing look but just shrugged.

“Fine.”

You were silent the way up to the house and watched Stiles pull out a spare key of Scott’s. You followed in right behind Stiles as Melissa called out Scott’s name.

“Scott?”

Stiles gave Melissa a goofy grin as he pointed to himself. “Stiles.”

Melissa was used to Stiles’s sarcasm, instead she just pointed to Stiles’s hand. “Key!” 

“Yeah. I had one made, so--”

“That doesn't surprise me. It scares me, but it doesn't surprise me.” You gave Mel a wide grin, as she went in for a hug, eyes on Stiles’s lacrosse bag.

“What is that?”

“School project.” You said automatically, returning the hug with just as much pressure.

Sometimes you thought Scott came from a pod, because Melissa was fantastic.

“Mhmm.. Stiles, he's okay, right?”

“Who? Scott?”

You and Stiles answered at the same time.

“Yeah.”

“Totally.”

“He just doesn't talk to me that much anymore, not like he used to.” You watched as Melissa looked up the stairs, eyebrows scrunched in worry.

“Well, he's had a bit of a rough week.” Stiles said, patting Melissa on the back.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Um, okay. Scott’s not here yet but make yourselves at home.“

“Be careful tonight.” You said as an afterthought as Melissa opened the front door.

“You, too. Full moon.”

All you could do was stare, so Stiles was forced to speak up. “What?”

“There's a full moon tonight. You should see how the ER gets. Brings out all the nut jobs.”

“Oh. Right.” You gave her a weak laugh, as did Stiles.

“You know, it's actually where they came up with the word lunatic.” Melissa said as she laughed her way out of the door.

You and Stiles shared a look before going upstairs. Stiles opened the door first, and dropped the bag of chains with a thud as you screamed.

"Oh, my God! Dude. You scared the hell out of us. Your mom said you weren't home yet.” Stiles said, recovering quicker than you.

“I came in through the window.”

“Okay. Uh, well, lets get this set up. I want you to see what I bought.” Stiles started to go for the bag but Scott cut him off.

“I'm fine. I'm just gonna lock the door and go to bed early tonight.”

“You sure about that? 'Cause you've got this kind of serial killer look going on in your eyes, and I'm hoping it's the full moon taking effect, 'cause it's really starting to freak me out.” 

You agreed wholeheartedly.

“I'm fine. You should go now.”

You felt the hairs on the back of your neck stand up at Scott’s tone, so you grabbed Stiles’s arm to go. “All right, We’ll leave.”

Stiles wasn’t backing down though as he shrugged you off. “Well, would you just at least look in the bag and see what I bought? You know, maybe you use it, maybe you don't. Sound good?”

Scott stood up from the chair in the corner and came over to you and Stiles before bending down to look in the lacrosse bag. “You think I'm gonna Iet you put these on and chain me up Iike a dog?”

“Actually, no.” Everything happened quickly after that as Stiles dove onto Scott.

You almost jumped in to help in fear of Scott hurting him but Stiles managed to get Scott’s hands cuffed to the radiator.

“What the hell are you doing?” Scott yelled, eyes flashing from their warm brown to werewolf gold menacingly.

“Protecting you from yourself and giving you some payback. For making out with Lydia.” You felt both eyebrows go up at that, but remained silent as Scott and Stiles had their stare off.

You honestly thought they worked this out earlier, but apparently Stiles was waiting till tonight to let Scott have it. You couldn’t blame him though, and you definitely weren’t going to stop him.

“I'm gonna kill you!” Scott screamed, causing you to wince at the volume but Stiles stood his ground.

“You kissed her, Scott, okay? You kissed Lydia. That's, like, the one girl that I--And, you know, the past four hours, I've been thinking, it's probably just the full moon, you know, he doesn't even know what he's doing, and tomorrow, he'll be totally back to normal. He probably won't even remember what a complete dumbass he's been. A son of a bitch, a freaking unbelievable piece of crap friend--”

Scott cut Stiles off before he could finish berating him with a smug smile. “She kissed me.”

“What?”

“I didn't kiss her. She kissed me. She would have done a Iot more, too. You should have seen the way she had her hands all over me. She would have done anything I wanted.” You wanted to punch Scott more than anything but you just grabbed Stiles and pulled him out of the room and into the hall as Scott shouted. “Anything!”

You were surprised how long he kept it up, but you just sank down to the ground and waited. Stiles hovered by the door, eyes moving from Scott to you, until he eventually slid down the wall and joined you.

Roughly 30 minutes went by of Scott alternating between yelling and growling before he started pulling on heart strings. “Stiles, please Iet me out. It's the full moon, I swear. You know I wouldn't do any of this on purpose.”

You shook your head even though Scott couldn’t see you.

“Please, Stiles.. Y/N.. let me out. It's starting to hurt. It's not like the first time. It's the full moon. It's Allison breaking up with me. I know that it's not just taking a break. She broke up with me. And it's killing me. I feel completely hopeless. Just, please, Iet me out.”

You felt Stiles shift to stand but you stopped him, shaking your head and standing up instead.

You knew if Stiles went into the room he would cave. “We can't.”

Scott looked up at you, eyes full and gold as he sneered.

“You won’t, there’s a difference.” You refused to back down from Scott’s wolf talk. “You think you’re so slick, but I know you and Derek have been fucking behind our backs. Is that why you won’t let me out? Derek told you not to.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Scott. We are doing this so you don’t hurt anyone, including yourself. Derek has nothing to do with it.” You tried not to snap but you couldn’t help yourself.

“I smell him on you. The scent of another wolf.” Scott’s eyes were slowly raking down your body, making you shiver. “It makes me want to rip your throat out.. It’s not helping. You’re not helping. You never help. You can’t even help yourself… poor Y/N, the orphan, the slu--”

“That’s enough Scott!” Stiles yelled, grabbing you and shoving you out into the hall. He slammed the door as Scott screamed in pain. “Are you okay?”

You could barely hear him even with the door shut but you just nodded dumbly, heart still racing and ears still ringing from every awful thing Scott just said about you. The house suddenly became deathly silent, and you snapped out of your fog when Stiles opened the door.

“Stiles!”

“Scott, are you okay?” Stiles asked, pushing the door open more to see the cuffs holding the volatile werewolf empty. “Scott?”

You pushed open the door all the way, eyes scanning the room but there was no Scott in sight. “Fuck.. I’m getting real tired of this werewolf bullshit.”

You turned to Stiles who was staring out the window in Scott’s room before turning around and hurrying down the stairs with a yelled “Let’s go.” You sighed, running after Stiles and out the door to the jeep. Once the car was cranked and he pulled out onto the street he gave you a quick glance. “Where do you think he went?”

You scoffed as you buckled up as Stiles turned onto the street leading off the main road to Scott’s house. “Wherever Allison is.”

You texted Allison asking for a location before pausing over Derek’s contact. You only hesitated for a minute, before clicking on it.

**[Y/N] Scott broke out of handcuffs and went awol.**

**[Derek] Stay inside, I’ll find him**

You glared at the incoming text before locking your phone. Like hell you would.

You had no idea where to go since Allison wasn’t texting you back, so you let Stiles drive. You were searching for roughly twenty minutes when you came around the corner and saw flashing lights and a couple of deputy cars and an ambulance.

“No, no, no, no.” Stiles pulled into the scene, tires screeching as he slammed on the breaks and jumped out of the car. “Dad? Dad? Has anyone seen my.. Has anyone seen my dad?”

You jumped out of the jeep too, eyes searching madly for Noah as you and Stiles pushed through a couple of Deputies to see a body on a stretcher, face covered. You were fixing to reach for the cloth, mind flashing back to two years ago in the morgue, when you finally heard Noah yell Stiles’ name.

You turned around and watched as Stiles slammed into Noah, hugging him for dear life and you felt like you were able to breathe a little easier. You left the scene, walking as far away from the body as you could get when you noticed a black SUV watching the chaos.

You looked around, making sure no one was watching you and went for the SUV. Chris waited until you were within earshot before rolling down the window. You paused though when you saw who all was inside. You were too close to the SUV now, and cursed as the back door opened and out stepped Nathan, gesturing for you to get in. You eyed Chris who was giving you a look you couldn’t quite register as Kate and Luca were grinning ear to ear.

You took a deep breath before sliding into the back of the SUV. You cringed as Luca’s arm went directly around your shoulder, pulling you closer to him.

“Wolf girl…” He purred, arm tightening around you until Chris coughed. Luca rolled his eyes but let you go immediately.

You didn’t waste any time and scooted as close to Nathan as you could get, hunter be damned. Anyone was better than Luca.

“That one's Stiles.” Chris said, breaking the silence by pointing to your best friend.

“Another friend of Allison’s.” Kate mused, looking between you and Chris.

You grabbed Chris’s shirt from the backseat, causing everyone in the car to pull their guns on you.

You didn’t care that Kate’s gun was directly to your temple or Luca’s was in your side. You didn’t let him go. “If you hurt one head on his head, I’ll kill you myself.”

“I can see why you like her Chris.. She’s got guts.” Kate eyed you, still smiling as she put away her gun. Deeming you not a threat.

You felt the cool hard metal leave you side too, but you tugged on Chris’s shirt tighter. “I mean it.. He has nothing to do with this.”

“And here I thought Derek was your weak spot.” Chris connected his eyes with you before pulling your hands off him.

You tried to swallow, but your mouth was too dry. “Please leave Stiles out of this, he’s human.”

That got Chris and Kate’s attention as they turned in their seats to look at you.

“That night you came across those two Betas, one of them was smaller, right?” Chris asked, turning to Kate who just nodded. “Well, was he just smaller? Or could he have been younger, too?”

Kate was grinning now, like a cheshire cat as Chris looked at you expectantly.

Right then, you knew you made a huge mistake. You gave Chris the benefit of the doubt, even when you knew who else was in the car.

You sat back in the seat, back straight as you looked Chris in the eye. “You might as well kill me, because I won’t tell you.”

“Oh wolf girl, we have our ways.” You flinched as Luca’s hand went to your thigh, squeezing it tightly as he smiled at you.

“Let her out.” Your eyes snapped to Chris who was glaring at Luca. Thankfully, he let his hand fall back to his own side.

Kate made a noise of protest but when Chris’s glare fell on her she held her hands up in surrender. You honestly thought it was some sick joke, luring you into some false sense of security but when Nathan opened the door and stepped outside, holding it open for you, you didn’t think twice about hurrying out.

The door shut behind you with no tricks, and then you were outside. Safe.

“Goodnight, Y/N.. I’m glad that body wasn’t yours.” Chris started the SUV, and rolled up the window without another word.

You’re retort died on your tongue as you watched the SUV drive away. You felt your phone vibrate, and you pulled it out to see a text from an unknown number.

**[345-867-8832] Bye wolfgirl, I can’t wait to see you again ;)**

You felt your skin crawl, but you just locked the phone and put it back in your pocket.

“Hey, Y/N, lets go!” You snapped around to see Stiles waving you toward the jeep, none the wiser of what just happened.

And it was going to stay that way.


	9. Surprise, Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the night of the big game, Y/N, Stiles, and Derek finally find out who the alpha is and what he wants.

After everything you’ve been through the past couple of weeks since Scott’s been bitten, you never thought a high speed car chase would be one of them. After Scott’s wild outing on the full moon where Derek stopped Scott from killing Jackson and Allison, there was a very careful truce between the two werewolves.

A truce based solely on a lie, or what you thought was a lie anyway. And you definitely gave Derek the side eye while he told Scott an old myth about a cure. You have to kill the alpha who bit you. Under any other circumstances, you would be all for killing the alpha, because fuck that guy, but letting Scott do it? Not a chance. You knew Derek too well though, and you also knew that alpha spark was his sisters. It was the Hale alpha spark and it deserves to stay in the Hale family, and Scott doesn’t even want to be a werewolf, let alone an alpha, so you knew. Deep down, you knew this was just to get Scott to be on his side, but you couldn’t bring yourself to tell Scott.

The truce was too good to be true to be ruined by Scott and Derek’s stubbornness, so you shut your mouth and let Derek use the word myth instead of promise. You let him twist Scott’s anger at being bitten so he would stop fighting Derek every step of the way. You tried not to feel guilty, especially since Derek knew you knew what a load of bullshit it was, but you still did.

And you still did nothing to stop it.

Which was why you were currently in the back seat of the camaro with Scott driving and Stiles in the passenger seat, running from the finest hunters in Beacon Hill.

“Grandma either floor it or get out of the driver’s seat!” You said, turning back to see the black SUV catching up.

You were really wishing you were in Derek’s place running from the cops, because at least then you weren’t in danger of being killed. Just arrested. Which you would take in a heartbeat over being handed over to Luca, who you were sure was in the SUV tailing you.

The camaro’s tires squealed as Scott turned a corner at the edge of town and headed toward the county line connecting Beacon Hills and Beacon Heights.

“We can’t leave the county, we have to make sure Derek’s okay!” Scott’s annoyed growl was loud enough for you to smack him, but you didn’t get a chance when you were thrown toward your left as Scott did a move the fast and furious would be impressed by.

“Y/N stop backseat driving and put on your seatbelt.” Stiles snapped, eyes scanning his google maps as he told Scott to take the next right on Dodger street.

When Scott took another sharp turn sending you tumbling again, you conceited. You didn’t put on your seatbelt though, just held on to the oh shit bars for dear life.

You tapped Scott’s shoulder as the SUV turned onto another street. “Hey, Scott, I don't think you're grasping the concept of the car chase here.”

“If I go faster, I'll kill us.”

“Well, if you don't go faster, they're gonna kill us!” You snapped as Scott relented and pressed his foot all the way to the floor and took another sharp turn.

You closed your eyes at the sound of the tires screeching but opened them to see the SUV’s lights were no longer shining through the windows.

“They're gone.” Stiles pointed out, turning in the seat to look at you but you were too busy looking around at your surroundings.

Stiles turned on the police radio that he borrowed--it’s not borrowing if you have no intention’s of giving it back, Stiles--from the station just in time to hear his dad. “All units, suspect is on foot heading into the iron works.”

“Shit. Shit shit shit.” You kicked the seat in front of you, which happened to be Scott’s, and sighed. “We have to go get him.”

“We don’t _have_ to.” Stiles said, which earned him a death glare.

“Yes, we do. You two are the reason he’s even wanted in the first place!” Scott scowled at you through the rear view mirror but put his foot to the gas and headed for the iron works without complaint.

It only took about 5 minutes to get there, and when the headlights caught sight of Derek, Stiles climbed into the back as gunfire started to rain down from up above. Scott drifted the camaro toward Derek, reaching out to open the door and shouted for him to get in.Derek didn’t have to be told twice as Derek made a quick dive move toward the open door and slammed it behind him as the machine gun fired again.

You sat up from your spot and wacked Derek on the shoulder. “What part of laying low don't you understand?” 

Derek ignored you, slamming his fist on the front console. “Damn it, I had him!” 

“Who, the Alpha?” Stiles asked excitedly as he shoved you out of the way and poked his head between the two front seats.

“Yes! He was right in front of me, and the freaking police showed up.”

“Oh, hey, they're just doing their jobs.” You almost laughed at Derek’s pinched eyebrows as he snarled at Stiles.

“Yeah, thanks to someone who decided to make me the most wanted fugitive in the entire state.”

“Can we seriously get past that? I made a dumbass mistake. I get it.” Scott said, turning onto the road leading into the preserve.

“All right! How did you find him?” Derek gave Stiles a withering glare.

“Can you try to trust us for at least half a second?” Scott asked, but Derek’s snort was enough of an answer.

“Yes, both of us. Or just him.” Stiles said, pointing to Scott who Derek turned his glare on next.

“How about me?” You said, pushing Stiles away so you could poke your head in the middle between the seats.

Derek turned toward you, eyes connecting with yours and you gave him a hopeful smile which had him sighing and leaning back into the seat.

“Look, the last time I talked to my sister, she was close to figuring something out. She found two things. The first was a guy named Harris.”

“Our chemistry teacher?” Derek just nodded his head. You knew there was a reason Harris was such a dick. Maybe he was a werewolf.

“Why him?”

“I don't know yet.” Well, maybe not a werewolf.

“What's the second?”

“Some kind of symbol.” Derek frowned as he pulled out a piece of paper with a not so artistic drawing of a wolf. Which you recognized right away, and judging by the sigh Scott gave, he did too.

“What? You know what this is?” Derek asked, looking between you and Scott.

“I've seen it on a necklace.” You nudged Scott who took a deep breath and slammed on the breaks causing you to fall forward.

You had half a moment to freak out about going through the windshield but you didn’t have to worry as a pair of strong arms caught you and pulled you close. You heard Stiles scream your name then cuss out Scott but you were too busy trying to get your breathing under control.

“You’re okay.” You were finally able to inhale enough to get your brain working as Derek manhandled you enough so you were sitting up. On his lap. With his arms wrapped around you firmly.

“You could have killed her you moron.” Derek growled as Scott gave you a sheepish look but you just sat up a little straighter and tried to think about anything other than the fact you were sitting on Derek’s lap.

“It was on Allison’s necklace.” You said, trying to change the subject.

You moved slightly so you could look at Stiles too but when you did Derek grabbed your hips tighter and hissed. “Stop moving.”

It didn’t sound angry though, it sounded pitiful and you gave him a weird look before realizing why he looked like that. And that it wasn’t his thigh that was pushing so hard into you. You tried not to smirk, you did, but judging by the low growl he let out it your face didn’t get the memo.

“So what do we do?” Stiles asked, oblivious to your and Derek’s predicament but Scott’s not so sudden sniffing made it clear he couldn’t ignore it.

Derek answered by opening the door and basically picking you up as if you weighed nothing more than a feather and depositing you on your feet with him right behind you. Scott and Stiles got the message and got out too.

“Get the necklace and meet me at the Hale house tomorrow after school.” Derek didn’t give any other directions, instead turned around and walked off into the woods.

You took the keys from Scott and jingled them. “Derek what about your car?”

He turned around and looked at you, then at Scott and Stiles. “Drive it back to your car, you shouldn’t be wandering around in the woods. I’ll get it later.”

You watched him turn and run into the trees and disappear. Like the true werewolf ninja he was.

“Well that was very ominous.”

You laughed at Stiles, and pushed him lightly before looking down at the keys with a small smile. “Come on, it’s late and we have a English test tomorrow.”

Scott sighed, cursing more than normal as he turned and got in the front passenger seat of the car, leaving Stiles to ride in the back. You were the last one in, but before you turned the keys in the ignition you looked back toward the trees hoping to see Derek, but he was long gone.

\---

“This is gonna be impossible, you know.” Scott said, opening up the doors to the school and holding it for you and Stiles to walk in.

“Why don't you just ask her if you can borrow it?”

“How?” Scott gave you a pitiful look before turning to Stiles.

“It's easy. You just say, _Hey, Allison, can I borrow your necklace to see if there's anything on it or in it that can lead me to an Alpha werewolf that I need to kill in order to get back together with you_.”

You gave Stiles a flat look. “You're not helping.” Then ignored him in favor of talking to Scott. “Why don't you just talk to her?” You asked, coming to stand in front of your locker.

“She won't talk to me.”

You were fixing to say something when Stiles cut you off. “What if she, like, only takes it off in the shower or something?” You could tell the moment Scott zoned out but Stiles kept on talking. “That's why you ease back into it, okay? Get back on her good side, remind her of the good times. And then you ask for the necklace.”

You hit Scott in the stomach to get that far away look out of his eyes. “You're thinking about her in the shower, aren't you?”

He at least looked ashamed as he hung his head. “Yeah.”

“All right, stay focused, okay? Get the necklace, get the Alpha, get cured, get Allison back. In that order.” Stiles gave Scott a commanding pat on the back. “Got it?”

Scott stood up straighter, face determined as he agreed and made his way down the hall in search of Allison.

“This isn’t going to go well.” You said once Scott was out of earshot, turning to look at Stiles who scoffed.

“My plan is awesome and it will work.” You tried to keep a serious face but with Stiles incessant elbowing you found yourself smiling. “Have a little faith wonder woman.”

You shoved Stiles’s face away from you as he tried to plant a sloppy kiss to you cheek. “Get off me loser.”

Stiles just gave you a cheeky smile as he put in the combination to his locker. “You love me.”

“I have no idea why.” You said, sticking your tongue out causing him to laugh then following suit and opening your own locker.

“Hey you want to get something to eat after the game, celebrate that I made first line?”

“Are you asking me on a date Stilinski?” Stiles’s scoff was loud and quite offending.

“A little birdy told me you had a date offer tonight but turned him down, just figured you could use some company?” You gave Stiles a withering look.

“The gossip at this school, I swear.” You cursed, grabbing your textbook out of the locker and slamming it shut.

“Oh come on, Matt asking you out? It’s pretty funny.”

You glared at Stiles then, a sudden wave of embarrassment. “Oh it’s funny that someone nice and attractive would want a date with me? Gee, thanks Stiles.”

You could see the moment his words registered with his brain, but you just turned around and ignored him calling your name. You stomped into first period english, slamming your books down hard enough for Scott to wince. You slumped in your seat, very pointedly not looking back to Stiles’s seat which just became occupied. You had a moment or two to fume, before turning around to see Stiles giving you a pleading look, but you looked right past him and to Matt.

“Hey Matt, that date offer still stand?” It seemed the whole class had zeroed in on you when the word date came out of your mouth, but you didn’t care.

And judging by the gigantic grin spread across Matt’s face as he sat up in his seat, neither did he.

“Of course.. After the game?” You forced a smile on your face and turned around to pick up a pen.

You tore off a little piece of paper from a spare sheet, and wrote your number on it and then turned to Stiles, holding it out for him to grab.

“Can you give this to Matt?” Stiles was no longer pleading for forgiveness, it seemed he worked himself into anger.

“Give it to him yourself.” You raised an eye at Stiles’s harsh tone but shrugged and stood up, thanking your morning self for picking out a pair of shorts that accent your long legs and walked over to Matt’s desk.

You planted your ass on his desk, crossing your legs, and handed the note to him while giving him a flirty smile. Your heart wasn’t any it though, but no one seemed to know except Scott who was looking at you with wary eyes.

“By the way, you look amazing today.” Matt said, leaning back in his seat as he let his eyes roam down your body.

“Miss Y/L/N, did you get hit on the head recently and forget where your seat was?” You turned around at Mr. Henderson’s voice, giving him a small smile.

“Sorry, sir.” You hopped off Matt’s desk and walked the couple of steps to your own, ignoring Stiles, Scott, and Allison for the rest of the period.

You essentially were able to avoid Stiles all day, and by association, Scott. You tried a few times to get Allison to talk to Scott but when her pitiful puppy eyes were on you, saying she wasn’t ready yet, you let it go. If push came to shove, you’d steal the damn thing.

You were doing a great job of avoiding your best friends up until before 5th period and Scott’s supernatural werewolf strength pulled you into an empty classroom where Stiles was gnawing on his thumbnail. A sign that said he was stressed about something.

“What the hell Scott, what’s with the wolf handling?” You rubbed at the spot Scott’s fingers dub in but he ignored you.

“Okay, you two can’t be at odds right now. We have more important things to worry about than Stiles putting his foot in his mouth.” You gave Scott a small smile as he slipped out the door, before turning to look at Stiles who didn’t seem angry just sad.

“Y/N I’m sorry.. I didn’t mean that like it sounded.. I just meant it was funny that he thought he had a chance with you because you are so far out of his league.” You threw your hands up in the air before giving him a glare.

“According to you, no one is in my league. Not Pete Matthews in 6th grade, not Andrew Hines in 7th, not Josh Jacobs in 8th or 9th grade. Not Jackson, not Clemens, not Matt, or anyone else! Who the hell else should I date then? Myself?” Stiles was studying his feet the whole time of your rant, but when you were finished he looked up at you and sighed.

“You’re right, okay? I was a dick and I’m sorry. I have no right to tell you who you can and can’t date. It’s just… Pete Matthews showed nudes around of every girl he dated and talked trash about them, Andrew Hines was a stuck up pretty boy who only cared about getting to third base, and Josh Jacobs.. Well, I’m pretty sure he’s gay and was trying to use you as a cover.”

You stood there, staring at Stiles before bursting out laughing. “Are you serious?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve seen the way he looks at Danny in the locker room.” After another round of laughter, you flung yourself into his arms and held on tight.

You stood there hugging until the bell rang and Scott opened up the door. “I know why you hate Jackson, and I know why your disapprove of Clemens, but why Matt?”

Stiles furrowed his brow and just stared at you for a minute before shrugging. “Honestly? He just creeps me out. He’s always just around, hovering on the edge of things, and takes pictures all the time.”

You gave him a dry look. “He’s the school photographer Stiles.”

“Oh.” You rolled your eyes at your best friend before turning back to Scott who looked all too pleased with himself.

If you heard Stiles mumble under his breath something along the lines of _he still gives me the creeps_ , you let it slide.

“Alright now that you two have made up, we have a problem. Jackson knows I’m a werewolf.”

You stood there slack jawed as Stiles started firing off question.

“How the hell did he find out?”

“I have no idea.”

“Did he say it out Ioud, the word?”

“What word?”

“Werewolf. Did he say, _I know you're a werewolf_?”

“No, but he implied it pretty freaking clearly.” Scott said, turning to leave the room and forcing your brain to catch up from its internal freak out.

“Okay, maybe it's not as bad as it seems. I mean, he doesn't have any proof, right? And if he wanted to tell someone, who's gonna believe him anyway?”

If Jackson knew, it was only a matter of time before Lydia knew, then Allison, and then the hunters.

“How about Allison's father?” Stiles and Scott stopped in their tracks and stared at you, before looking to each other.

“I need a cure. Right now.”

“Does he know about Allison’s father?” Stiles asked, ever so hopefully but Scott just shrugged his shoulders.

“I don't know.”

“Okay, where's Derek?”

“Hiding, like we told him to.” You answered Stiles, who just pursed his lips. “Why?”

“I have another idea. It's gonna take a little time and finesse, though.”

“We have that game tonight. It's quarterfinals. And it's your first game.” Scott reminded him but Stiles just nodded along.

“I know, I know. Look, do you have a plan for Allison yet?”

“She's in my next class.”

“Get the necklace.” Stiles said, turning to leave you and Scott staring after him.

\--

You ignored Allison and Lydia’s lunch table, and made a straight path to Stiles and Scott who were already talking when you sat down.

“Did you get her to give you the necklace?” You asked hopefully but Scott’s heartbroken face said it all.

“Not exactly.”

“What happened?”

“She told him not to talk to her. At all.” Stiles unhelpfully said around a mouth full of curly fries.

“So she's not--“

You were cut off by Scott pushing his tray away in anger. “She’s not giving me the necklace.”

You held up your hands in surrender, not wanting to poke the bear any more but having to ask. “Well, did you find anything else out?”

“Just that I know nothing about girls, and that they're totally psychotic.” You gave an offended squawk, throwing one of your own curly fries at Scott’s head, but naturally he caught it before it hit.

“You’re not a girl, you’re Y/N.” He said in lieu of explaining, but that made you throw another fry. This time it hit its mark.

“I am a girl dipshit, and as a girl, I can tell you she needs some time. I don’t know how I would react to my one true love risking his life and leaving me all alone to fend off a crazy maniac. I would like to say I would be thankful, but I would probably be pissed. So just… give her some space.”

After a long silence where Scott was staring at Allison pitifully, Stiles spoke up. “Well, I came up with a plan B just in case anything like this happened.”

You really didn’t like the sound of that plan which is why you had to know. “And What's that?”

“Just steal the stupid thing.” Stiles shrugged, taking a sip of water.

“Couldn't we try at least getting to Harris?” Scott tried instead but you knew the answer to that already from Stiles.

“Noah put him on a 24-hour protective detail.. The necklace is all we got. So Steal it.” You gave Scott a meaningful look before getting up.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going anywhere that doesn’t have werewolves or hunters or anything else so I can study for my french exam.” You left Scott and Stiles to talk about how to steal the necklace in peace, so you could get started on preparing on an exam you might have had a chance at passing.

Once upon a time. When there were no werewolves. Or hunters.

\----

Derek officially sunk to an all time low. Running from hunters? That, he was used to. The cops? Not so much. He could really strangle Scott. He hated being a teenager but he hates dealing with them even more. Except for Y/N. She was different. She was currently the only thing keeping him from just killing Scott himself. And Stiles. Derek listened for the too quick pace of Y/N’s best friends heart as he opened the door to the room, then heard the sheriff call out for him.

“Hey, Stiles!”

“Yo... Da--erek?!?” He made a shushing motion and pointed at the door for Stiles to handle his father.

“What'd you say?”

He rolled his eyes as Stiles flailed, opening the door and closing it almost all the way behind him to keep the sheriff from coming in “What? I said Yo, Dad.” 

“Listen, I've got something I've got to take care of, but I'm gonna be there tonight. I mean, your first game.”

“My first game. Gosh, great. Awesome--Uh, good.” Derek tried to control his sigh at Stiles’s babbling.

“I'm very happy for you. And I'm really proud of you.”

“Thanks. Me, too. I'm happy and proud of myself.” Derek really should strangle him.

“So they're really gonna let you play, right?”

“Yeah, Dad. I'm first line. Believe that?”

“I'm very proud.” In the corner of his vision he saw the sheriff lean into Stiles who was thankfully still blocking him from sight.

“Oh, me too. Again, I'm Oh..Huggie Huggie, huggie--See you there. Take it easy.” Stiles flailed his way back in the room but didn’t get too far as Derek grabbed him by the shirt and pressed him against the door.

“If you say one word--”

“Oh, what, you mean, like, ' _Hey, Dad, Derek Hale's in my room. Bring your gun_ '? Yeah, that's right.” Derek let out a low growl but slowly let go of the teenager and fixed his bunched up shirt more roughly than necessary. “If I'm harboring your fugitive ass, it's my house, my rules, buddy.”

Stiles mimicked Derek’s fixing of the shirt and smirked as he stepped around but Derek snapped his teeth toward the teenager and had him flinch back with a curse.

He smirked for a moment, enjoying the quick beat of Stiles’ heart. “Scott didn't get the necklace?”

“No. He's still working on it. But there's something else we can try. The night we were trapped at the school, Scott sent a text to Allison asking her to meet him there.” Derek watched as Stiles sat at his computer desk, swirling in his desk chair to look back at him.

“So?”

Stiles just turned around to start typing. “So it wasn't Scott.” 

Derek really thought about ringing the kids neck but reframed. Instead he walked over to the computer desk and saw what Stiles was typing. A message to Y/N. “Well, can you find out who sent it?” 

“No, not me. But I think I know somebody who can..” Derek gave Stiles a long suffering look before retreating to the other side of the room to wait for somebody who could help.

\----

The cryptic message saying to get Danny over to Stiles’s house was weird, but Danny agreed to come over and study with you and if you happened to rope him into going over to Stiles? Well then, that was his fault for going along.

What you were not expecting was for a grumpy and brooding werewolf to be sitting beside Stiles’ bed in a chair. Reading the dictionary.

“What the hell..” You trailed off as Stiles flailed and sat up from his desk chair with an over enthusiastic grin.

“Y/N! Danny boy, how great for you to come over. Here.. sit sit- sitty-sit.” Stiles was ushering you onto his bed before turning to Danny and helping him get situated on the chair beside his laptop.

You turned to Derek, trying to give him a look that conveyed _what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here_ but he just rolled his eyes and gestured to Stiles and Danny.

“You want me to do what?” Danny asked, frowning at Stiles.

“Trace a text?” Stiles gave him an award winning grin that had you smiling but Danny was not buying it.

“I came here to do lab work. That's what lab partners do.” He gave you a pointed look as you shrug your shoulders innocently. The glare you got suggested it didn’t work.

Stiles grabbed Danny’s shoulder, steering him back toward the laptop. “And we will, once you trace the text.”

“And what makes you think I know how?”

“I Iooked up your arrest report, so--“

“I was 13. They dropped the charges.” Danny gave Stiles a flat look before glaring at you.

Again.

“Whatever I--”

“No, we're doing lab work.” Before Stiles could argue, Danny turned around to look at Derek with a pinched expression. “And who’s he again?”

“Um, my cousin Miguel.” You shook your head at Stiles, giving him a warning look as Danny inspected Derek further.

“Is that blood on his shirt?” You’re head whipped around to Derek who was glaring at Stiles and Danny, but yep. That was blood.

“Yeah. Yes. Well, he gets these horrible nosebleeds… Hey, Miguel. I thought I told you you could borrow one of my shirts.” Derek snapped the dictionary closed as Stiles slung an arm around Danny and brought him back to the laptop screen.

“So anyway, I mean, we both know you have the skills to trace that text so we should probably--”

“Stiles?” You looked up at Derek to see him shirtless, his glorious abs on full display as he tugged on one of Stiles’s shirts.

“Yes?” Stiles’s sing song voice called out, turning around to look at Derek.

“This. No. Fit.” If you weren’t so distracted by a half naked Derek, you would have lost your shit.

“Then try something else on.” Derek gave him a withering look before turning to you with hard eyes as he tried on another shirt. You felt your breath catch in your throat and immediately felt guilty for ogling him like that. “Hey, that one looks pretty good, huh? What do you think, Danny?”

You moved your eyes away from Derek, to Danny, who was admiring the same thing you were before Derek put on another shirt.

“It's.. It's not really his color.” Danny sighed as Derek practically ripped the shirt off and put another on. One that was much much tighter.

“You swing for a different team, but you still play ball, don't you, Danny Boy?” You heard Stiles not-so-whisper, but you were too busy looking at Derek who was stony faced as he shrugged his jacket back on and sat down.

You swung your legs off the side of the bed so you could position yourself in front of Danny’s line of sight.

“I’m sorry.” You mumbled, looking away from him to a poster on the wall.

“It worked and I’m used to it.” You turned back to Derek with a frown, fixing to open your mouth and say something but Derek just stood up and walked out of the room.

You got a text a second later from the wolf saying he would be waiting outside. You’re fingers hovered over the keypad but you didn’t know what to say so you just locked the phone and turned back toward Stiles and Danny.

It didn’t take long for Danny to work his magic, but the answer he gave blew your mind. The text was registered to Scott’s mom. Once Danny finished you made some lame excuse to get him to leave which he did but not before giving you a serious look that you knew meant you would be explaining whatever just happened at a later date.

But until then, you were on recon with Stiles and Derek. You were chilling in the back of the jeep, driving toward the hospital. Apparently Peter took a turn for the worst two days ago and had to be moved from the nursing home facility. You were a little angry and hurt Derek didn't mention that but let it go as Stiles talked to Scott on the phone and Derek fumed from the passenger seat.

“ _Did you get the picture_?”

“Yeah, I did, and it looks just like the drawing--”

Stiles didn’t get the chance to finish before Derek was grabbing his wrist and pulling the phone closer toward himself. “Hey, is there something on the back of it? There's gotta be something. An inscription, an opening, something.”

You helpfully plucked the phone out of Stiles' hand and put it on speaker so everyone could hear.

“ _No, no, the thing's flat. And, no, it doesn't open. There's nothing in it, on it, around it, nothing.. And where are you? You're supposed to be here. You're first line_.” You heard Coach ask where Stiles was before Scott came back on the line. “ _Man, you're not gonna play if you're not here to start_.”

“I know. Look, if you see my dad, can you tell him--”

“Stiles, me and Derek can handle it… this is your chance to play first line.” You gave your best friend a small smile but he just shook his head and side eyed Derek as he grabbed the phone back.

“Scott tell my dad I'll be there, I'll just be a little bit late, okay? All right, thanks.” Stiles hung up and looked out toward the hospital.

“You're not gonna make it.” You hit Derek in the shoulder as Stiles sighed.

“I know.”

“And you didn't tell him about his mom, either.” Derek said disapprovingly, which was odd.

“Not till we find out the truth.” Stiles said, unclicking his seatbelt but was stopped by Derek.

“By the way, one more thing.”

“Yeah.” You looked at Derek but couldn’t stop him in time before he slammed Stiles’s head against the steering wheel.

“Oh, God! What the hell was--”

“You know what that was for. Go.” Derek growled, pointing toward the hospital entrance. Stiles stammered, holding his head as he looked at Derek like he wanted to say something else. “GO.”

Stiles cursed under his breath as he got out of the jeep and slammed the door. You took that time to climb up into the driver’s seat and turn toward Derek.

“He’s human Derek.” You grumbled, crossing your arms over your chest as Derek flashed his eyes at you.

“You’re human. Were you planning on telling him or Scott that the hunters are threatening you?” You gave Derek a look of defiance before angling your body toward the hospital entrance.

“They have enough to worry about, I can handle it.” You heard Derek’s snort of disagreement loud and clear. “I’m going to help Stiles.”

You slammed the door without anyone protesting and made your way inside. You found Stiles easily enough, but there was no Melissa McCall. After combing through the first floor, you called Derek.

“We can't find her.” You said, voice clipped as you hovered by back nurses station with the phone on speaker.

“ _Look, ask for Jennifer. She's been look after my uncle since he got moved to the ICU a couple days ago_.”

“Yeah, well, he's not here either.” Stiles said which caused your head to snap around to him.

“ _What._ ”

“He's not here. He's gone, Derek.” You let the phone slip from your hands, grabbing Stiles’s arm and Derek’s voice echoed on speaker.

“ _Y/N, get out of there right now. It's him! He's the Alpha! Get out!_ ”

You dragged Stiles around the corner, feet moving until a person stepped out of a doorway, blocking you from the exit you were heading toward.

“You must be Y/N…” Peter Hale was grinning maniacally, his blue eyes roaming over you and then briefly to Stiles whose grip became impossibly tight on your wrist.

You made an attempt to back up but the same nurse from the last time you visited was blocking the way back.

“What are you doing here? Visiting hours are over.”

“You And him...You're the one who.. Oh, my--” You felt your heart rate spike as you put the pieces together, Stiles not to far behind.

“And he's.. Oh my God, we’re gonna die. We’re gonna die.” Stiles said, letting go of you to place his back against yours.

You could feel his erratic breathing but you steadied your shoulder to try and defend yourself against Peter. Until you heard the distinct sound of something breaking and Stiles’s gag. You turned around just in time to see Jennifer’s body collapse to the ground.

“That's not nice. She's my nurse.” Peter pouted as he looked at the body on the floor and back toward his nephew.

“She's a psychotic bitch helping you kill people.” Derek said coming to stand slightly in front of you. “Get out of the way.”

You didn’t have to be told twice as you reached for Stiles and drug him toward the nurses station.

“You think I killed Laura on purpose? One of my own family?” Was the last thing you heard before bodies were being slammed into walls and growling was echoing through the building.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” Stiles hissed as he skirted around the nurses station after you.

“I’m not leaving Derek.” You said, peaking around to see Peter pulling Derek up by the neck.

“My mind, my personality were literally burned out of me. I was being driven by pure instinct.” Peter said as he drug Derek toward the nurses station.

You looked around wildly for something, anything, and then you saw the metal bedpan.

“You want forgiveness?” Derek spat before you heard a punch before thrown.

You crawled over Stiles, grabbing the metal pan and holding it tight as he looked at you like you were insane.

“What the fuck do you think you’re going to do with that?! He’s a werewolf. An alpha werewolf.” Stiles hissed again as more growling was happening a few feet away from you.

_“I want understanding. Do you have any idea what it was Iike for me during those years? SIowly healing, cell by cell. Even more slowly coming back to consciousness. Yes, becoming an AIpha, taking that from Laura pushed me over a plateau in the healing process. I can't help that._ ”

You looked around the nurses station to see Derek on the ground, barely able to get back up but when he did, his swipe of claws missed and Peter crushed his hand to where you could hear the bones breaking and Stiles’s whispered swearing..

“ _I tried to tell you what was happening. I tried to warn you_.” The next thing you heard was glass being broken and Derek’s body landing a couple feet from you.

Stiles ushered you around the other side of the nurses station as Derek crawled away from you and into a room. Trying and failing to stand up.

“Stiles go to the jeep, start it, I’m getting Derek and we’re getting the hell out of here.” Stiles shook his head.

“How about we both go to the jeep and get the hell out of here.”

“I’m not gonna leave Derek, Stiles. He wouldn’t leave us.” You gave him a look that had Stiles sighing before grabbing his keys.

“Five minutes Y/N.” He growled, before dashing for the exit.

You held onto the metal bedpan and slowly crept into the room Peter was monologuing from. From the sound of his talk, he was defiantly crazy, but you didn’t think he wanted to outright hurt Derek. Or that was what you were betting on anyway.

“I was going to wait for dramatic flair, but when you look this good, why wait? Derek, you have to give me a chance to explain. After all, we're family.”

You took the moment once Peter was looking into the mirror to swing as hard as you could, but before impact, in a flash, Peter held the bedpan in his hands with a twisted smile.

“Oh sweetheart, you really shouldn’t have done that.” You let go of the bedpan as Peter’s eyes began to burn red.

“No. Stop.. Uncle Peter please don’t hurt her.” Peter seemed to freeze in his advance at Derek’s words, his eyes slowing fading back to the blue. You didn’t waste a minute in turning around, uncaring of what the alpha would do and went to work checking Derek over.

“Interesting.” He mused to himself but you didn’t care.

“Are you okay?” You whispered, even though everyone in the room could hear you.

“That was stupid.” He growled, eyes on you but flickering toward his uncle.

“You should be used to that by now.” Derek’s lip twitched just enough for you to know he would be okay, even if the wounds weren’t healing. You helped Derek stand, taking more weight than you could handle but pushing through anyway.

“We’re leaving.” You said, eyes on Peter who just smiled a dazzling smile that would probably make any girl swoon now that he managed to heal the last remains of the fire from his skin.

“I like her Nephew. She has a certain fire to her.” You winced at the term, but remained steady on your feet as you took a couple of steps toward the door but naturally Peter stood in front of it before you could get to far.

“What do you want?” You asked, struggling under Derek’s weight as Peter kept looking between you and his nephew.

“I want everyone who killed our family dead.. That means all the Argents. And I want to talk to my beta.” You shook your head, before glaring at Peter.

“You have my blessing to kill Kate, but not Chris or Allison. And there is no way you’re getting within 3 feet of Scott. Over my de--”

Peter didn’t let you finish before he had you by the front of your shirt and away from Derek, eyes blazing red. “That can be arranged.”

Well, so much for being able to take care of yourself.


	10. Hell or High Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N follows Peter only to find out what he wants with Scott And Derek, which turns out to see the whole Argent family wiped off the map. Y/N doesn’t get the chance to get a plan together before the hunters make their move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> French translation: Laisser - Leave

It turns out when an alpha werewolf threatens you, the best course of action is to do what he says. According to Derek that is, which is why you were being escorted out of the building, still supporting some of Derek’s weight with Peter right behind you.

Stiles didn’t waste any time jumping out of the jeep and hurrying to you but stopped when Peter tsked at him.

“I wouldn’t do that Stiles.. I think you’d be better off going home.”

Stiles gave Peter a defiant snort as he shook his head no. “That’s not happening. I’m not leaving Y/N.”

“Stiles.. It’s okay. Just-- follow us to the school, alright?” You tried to convey that you were, in fact, okay but Stiles wasn’t looking at you since he was too busy glaring at Peter.

“Yes, Stiles, by all means follow us.” The alpha flashed his eyes which had Stiles flinch but stand his ground.

“Y/N I--”

“Stiles. I got this.” You said harder, getting him to finally look at you.

You locked eyes for a few minutes, and you could see him working through a variety of emotions. Anger, fear, anxiety. You just gave him a small smile and gestured toward the jeep. After a couple more seconds he sighed and relented, but not before glaring at Peter one last time.

“Well that was fun, let’s get going. Chop Chop, don’t want to be late for the celebration.” You followed behind Peter as he went to a gray honda, still clinging to Derek who was bearing more and more of his own weight with every step. “Derek in the back, Y/N can ride shotgun.”

“That’s not happening.” Derek growled, finally standing up and off of you to come stand in between Peter and the passenger door.

“Ye have little faith dear nephew. I would never hurt your m--”

“Shut up, Peter.” You tensed for a fight as Derek flashed his blue eyes but Peter just laughed him off like the psychopath he was and turned to you.

“What about you my dear, you don’t mind riding up front with the big bad wolf do you?” You knew there was no point in lying to him so you just gave him a flat look.

“I’d rather scoop out my eyeballs with a rusty spoon than ride in any car with you.” You snapped, before pushing Derek out of the way, which was surprisingly easy to do, to open the passenger door to climb in.

“Oh I really like her.” Peter smiled before you slammed the door shut and crossed your arms, waiting for the two wolves to get in.

The stare down between them only lasted a couple of seconds before you heard Derek growling as he opened the door to the backseat and climbed in.

“Don’t do anything to provoke him Y/N. I mean it.” You turned toward the back seat to see Derek staring at you intently which you returned with an equal look.

“Me? Provoke? Have you met yourself?” Derek growled at you but it cut off as soon as Peter opened the door. 

“You two sit tight, I have to go get my nurse. She was a dear friend you know.” You snorted a laugh, sinking in the seat and close to the window. “And don’’t think about running... there isn’t anything a wolf loves more than a chase.” 

You shivered at his tone but nodded your head. Peter had to know where you lived by now, which meant he knew where Stiles lived too. You had no doubt that Stiles would be used as a personal bargaining chip and that was never going to happen.

”Y/N I need you to be smart about this. Peter is dangerous.” You turned to look at Derek, noticing him already staring at you.

”You think I don’t know that? I just watched him throw you around like a fucking rag doll Derek.. it was terrifying and life affirming.” Derek tilted his head and let out a low growl. “What did he just say?”

Derek refused to answer as his glare softened. “I’ll be okay.”

”Just because you heal doesn’t mean I like seeing you hurt.”

The rest of his glare melted away as he reached for your shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. “I know...”

You don’t know what possessed you to lean into it, your cheek resting on the top of his hand. You sat like that for a minute. You didn’t know what was more surprising, Derek not moving away as soon as it happened or the small breath of relief that came after it. 

“You can’t die.” You said after another minute, moving away from the embrace to look out the window. 

It was a tense silent as you heard the trunk of the car slam and Peter opened the door. The ride was surprisingly silent except for the humming Peter was doing along to the radio. You kept throwing glances in the rear view mirror to Derek who was watching Peter like a hawk, waiting for him to make a move.

“So, Y/N.. tell me about yourself? How old are you?” The question came out of left field, you’re brain trying to catch up at the absurdity of the whole thing so it was a couple of minutes before you answered.

“17.”

“Ah such a lovely age. The time of first loves and tragic heartbreaks. Isn’t that right Derek?” You watched as Derek tensed up from the back seat, his face completely blank. “Do you love anyone Y/N?”

“No.” You answered automatically, but Peter tsked at you.

“Now now.. There is no need to lie.” You gawked at him, before crossing your arms over your chest.

“I love Stiles and Scott, but they’re like my brothers. I’m not in love with anyone. And even if I were, it’s none of your damn business.”

“See there you go lying again, but it’s okay. You’ll figure it out soon enough.” You glared at Peter, mumbling obscenities under your breath before daring a look in the rear view mirror.

For the first time since the car started, Derek wasn’t watching Peter, he was watching you.

———

The rest of the ride to school was silent, and when Peter pulled into the parking lot you could see some stragglers and from the looks of it, Beacon Hills had won since people were still shouting. You slammed the door shut, preparing to help Derek as he climbed out but he brushed you off, able to hobble himself.

You rolled your eyes before following the pair, Stiles wasting no time in getting out of the jeep and coming to stand beside you protectively. The way Peter was eyeing your best friend made you want to lock him away in a tower for his own safety.

“Don’t even think about it.” You hissed, knowing the older wolf would be able to hear you.

Peter’s giddy smile suggested he did. Derek made a move to stand in front of you, blocking both you and Stiles from his uncle’s gaze which you were very appreciative of. Peter pouted but didn’t say anything else as he maneuvered his way around the school like a pro, which shouldn’t have come as a shock since the Hales were one of the oldest families in Beacon Hills.

You and Stiles followed along silently, avoiding eye contact until a hand grabbed your arm and pulled you backwards. You yelped in surprise, which had Derek on full alert, wasting no time in getting the person off you and slammed into the lockers with more force than necessary.

“Dude, what the fuck!” Matt yelled, struggling in Derek’s grip.

You finally realized what was happening and grabbed Derek by the shoulders to tear him away from Matt.

“Derek let him go! He’s a friend.” You’re voice seemed to snap him out of his low growling and he let Matt go with a shove and a snarl.

“He should be careful who he puts his hands on like that.” You rolled your eyes at him before turning toward Matt with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry Matt, Derek here is just a little overprotective.. You just scared me.” You rubbed your arm awkwardly, looking between Derek and Matt who seemed to be glaring at each other.

Matt finally looked away from Derek and gave you a bright smile, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” You resisted the urge to move away as Matt ran his hand up and down the arm he grabbed. “You ready to go?”

You stared at him for a moment before cursing under your breath. “Shit, our date. I totally forgot.. I’m so sorry.”

You watched Matt’s face fall before he glanced at Derek who just raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him.

“Yeah you look pretty busy.” He sneered.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” You asked, crossing your arms over your chest as Peter sighed.

“It means I should have listened to everyone when they said not to bother with you, what a waste of--” You felt your blood run cold as Derek had Matt pinned up against the lockers again.

“Derek!” You hissed at him, but he didn’t move.

“You might want to rethink what you were about to say unless you’d like me to rip your throat out.” You turned to Stiles, thinking maybe he would be of some help but he looked like he was all for Derek’s threat by the glare he was leveling at Matt.

“Alright children, I’ve grown bored of your teenage drama. We have things to do. Let the boy go Derek.” You put a hand of Derek’s arm, tugging him away and he went but not before pushing Matt into the lockers again.

“Whatever, I don’t have to deal with this. You want her so bad, you can have her. She’s not even worth your crazy ass.” You bit your lip, avoiding Matt’s gaze as he turned around and walked away.

“Are you okay?” Stiles asked, grabbing your arm but you brushed him off.

You turned, looking down the hall Matt disappeared too. It wasn’t like you were looking forward to the date but it still stung. Scott’s words popped into your head from the night of the full moon but you mentally shut that door with a padlock before turning to give Stiles a smile.

“And people wonder why I don’t date.”

Stiles chuckled as he nudged your shoulder but the heart felt moment was ruined when Peter cleared his throat. You turned around to glare at him but he just turned around and started walking again.

You stayed beside Stiles for a moment before walking up to Derek and shoving into him playfully. “Protectivewolf.”

“Don’t get used to it.” He said with an eye roll and scowl.

“Mhm.” You were still smiling.

You walked along silently until you reached the boys locker room, seeing a couple of players still milling about. Peter didn’t seem to care as he opened the door and went in, gesturing for Derek to come along.

Peter held the door open for his nephew but held at an arm when you tried to come in too.

“Your presence is no longer required my dear. Run along.” He made a shooing motion toward you and Stiles but you didn’t move.

“Yeah I’m not leaving you alone with Derek. Or Scott.” Peter held your gaze for a moment before shrugging and letting you pass.

You walked into the locker room, careful to avert your eyes in case anyone was changing but it seemed no one was left inside except Scott. You walked slowly with Stiles right on your heel until you came face to face with your other best friend. The moment his eyes locked on you, Stiles, and Derek he let out a long sigh.

“Thank God! Where the hell have you three been?” You were about to answer when he turned around as Peter came sauntering in view holding a lacrosse stick.

“I really don't get lacrosse. When I was in high school, we played basketball. There's a real sport. Still, I read somewhere that Lacrosse comes from Native American tribes and that they played it to resolve conflict. Do I have that right? Well I have a little conflict of my own to resolve, Scott. But I need your help to do it.”

“I'm not helping you kill people.” Scott answered automatically, maneuvering his way to stand in front of Stiles since Derek was already so close to you.

“Well, I don't want to kill all of them. Just the responsible ones. And that doesn't have to include…” Peter trailed off as he looked toward you then to Derek.

“Allison.” Derek supplied, walking the couple of steps toward Peter but you grabbed him by the arm and held him in place.

“You're on his side? Are you forgetting the part where he killed your sister?” Scott snapped toward Derek, and you squeezed his arm tighter at the mention of Laura.

“It was a mistake.” You let out a huff, Derek only pausing to side eye you before he removed your hand carefully from his arm.

“Derek don’t do this.” You whispered, begging him to side with you but you could tell his mind was made up as he walked over to his uncle.

Scott didn’t seem to understand why he was doing it but you did.

“What?” Scott hissed, turning to you but you just shook your head and glared at Peter.

All Derek gave him was a short answer and forced shrug. “It happens.”

“Scott I think you're getting the wrong impression of us. We really just want to help you reach your full potential.” It was Stiles turn to huff at that, but Peter didn’t bother looking anywhere but at Scott.

“By killing my friends.”

“Sometimes the people closest to you can be the ones holding you back the most.” Peter finally let his eyes slide over to you and then to Stiles as he started forward.

“If they're holding me back from becoming a psychotic nut job Iike you I'm okay with that.” You felt your body tense along with Scott’s as Peter got closer.

“Maybe you could try and see things from my perspective.” You didn’t think twice before stepping in front of your bestfriends when Peter showed an impressive hand with very sharp claws.

“Y/N.” Derek started to intervene but stopped when Peter held his hand up.

“So brave.” Peter smiled, reaching for you but he didn’t get to touch you before Scott had his hand around the alpha’s.

“Don’t touch her. Whatever you want.. Leave them out of it.”

You turned to Scott to see his eyes glowing gold, his facial muscles twitching in anticipation but Peter just laughed.

“Listen to my heart Scott, I wouldn’t dare lay a finger on Y/N.” You turned back to glare at the alpha but he was too busy leering at Stiles. “And that one has too much potential to hurt, but he doesn’t have the same assurance as Y/N.. remember that.”

“Assurance? What assurance?” Peter ignored you completely, as he removed Scott’s hand from around his wrist.

“Now, where were we?” You didn’t get a chance to stop Peter as he quickly buried his clawed hand in the back of Scott’s neck.

“Let go of him!” You screamed as Scott grunted in pain but you were quickly pulled off Scott by Derek growling in your ear.

“He’s not hurting him, he’s showing him something.” You watched as Peter removed his claws as quickly as he put them in and then walked away.

Stiles grabbed Scott as he struggled to breath. You elbowed your way out of Derek’s grip to help ease Scott to the floor as he groaned in pain.

“You said he wasn’t hurting him.” You snapped at Derek, glaring at the wolf who was still just standing there.

“He’s feeling Peter’s pain.. Not his own.”

You watched Derek for a moment before he turned around and followed the same path as his uncle, leaving you alone with more questions than answers, as usual.

“Derek you don’t have to follow him!” You called as he was about to vanish from sight. He paused by the last pair of lockers, and you felt your heart tug.

You honestly thought he was going to stop, but he didn’t.

Scott thankfully was fine when he came out of his vision Peter forced on him. The aftermath left him with more sympathy than you thought he deserved. All three of you sat down then as Scott rehashed what he saw from Peter, which was mostly how he came back to consciousness and what he remembered of the fire and Laura. Scott said he was in a lot of pain, an all consuming pain.

You squeezed Scott’s hand as he still struggled to breath through the pain that wasn’t even his. You let your eyes wander to the lockers where you last saw the wolves disappear. “Maybe we should consider it... Kate killed their entire family. The other people were the ones covering it up. Maybe this is justice.”

”Y/N you can’t possible believe that.” You turned back to look at Scott as he glared at you. Stiles looked impartial at best which meant he was considering it too. 

“They are guilty Scott. Yes Kate lit the match but all of them are just as responsible—“

”Allison nev—“

”God can you think with something besides your dick for five seconds.” Stiles bit his lip as Scott’s eyes flashed gold briefly. “We can protect Allison and her parents, He just wants Kate.”

”So I’m supposed to just be okay with cold blooded murder? You’re okay with that?” You opened your mouth but Stiles cut you off.

”Look we’re all uptight and tired and saying things we don’t mean.” You were about to say you meant every word but Stiles powered on. “Lets put a pin in this for tonight okay? Talk about it tomorrow.”

Scott looked at you, glaring still which you glared back. “Guys please. Tomorrow.”

You relented, pushing yourself off the floor and holding your hand out for Stiles. “Tomorrow.” 

You pulled him up as Scott agreed too. You walked out of the locker room with Stiles beside you and Scott bringing up the rear. You never felt this kind of tension between you and Scott before. Sure you have had your fights growing up, but this was different. This was the building fight you have been in since Scott was bitten and you were afraid that tomorrow, the tension will finally break and shatter and be unable to be glued back together.

———

Derek was silently fuming the whole way back to the car and he was sure Peter knew it. He couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been. He missed all the signs and now Y/N was in his crosshairs. He had a brief thought of just doing it, trying to fight Peter to be the alpha but just the thought made his stomach clench. Yes he killed Laura but now he wasn’t alone. It was maddening.

“Penny for your thoughts nephew?” Peter side eyed him, tapping along to the radio as if he hadn’t been comatose for the last 7 years.

He didn’t rise to the bait, didn’t even bother looking at him as he made his way through town. It was quiet after that, the only sound in the car being the incessant tapping and Peter humming to an Adele song he had no idea how his uncle knew. He was about to ask where Peter was going but thought better of it.

He had been drifting from place to place because of Kate, he didn’t want to tell Peter where he was currently staying. Instead he remained silent until Peter pulled the car up to a gated condo-type community and typed in a four-digit number to get it.

“Seriously?” He asked as Peter pulled into the second condo’s driveway from the gate.

“It’s better than the burnt out shell of our former house or a desolate train depot. I mean, seriously nephew. Do you just enjoy brooding?” Derek gave Peter a death stare before getting out and stomping to the door. “Try not to look like a serial killer to my neighbors.”

He rolled his eyes as Peter opened the door and wave him inside. He had to admit it was nice, which didn’t really surprise him since Peter had always been very stylish.

“Well.. I don’t know about you but I could use a shower. Guest bath is down the hall to the left. There are towels under the sink.” Derek watched Peter deposited his keys on the bar and went toward the stairs.

It was all too.. _Normal_. Like Peter hadn’t did what he did. Like he was never gone. The thing was, Derek knew he was different. His uncle, the one he grew up with as more of an older brother would have never laid a finger on Laura.

“Why didn’t you kill me?” Peter froze, hand twitching just above the railing before turning around to give him a calculating once over.

“You’re my nephew.” His answer was all too simple but his heart didn’t betray that calmness as it skipped.

“It didn’t stop you from killing Laura.” Peter’s eyes flashed once but he quickly controlled himself.

“That was an accident. You don’t know what it was like, trapped in your own body, unable to move, speak, cry… _mourn_.” Derek barely managed not to flinch. “When I woke up all I wanted was my pack but they were dead. Gone. But I could… I could feel an alpha in the territory. My territory. I was practically feral Derek.. I only realized it was Laura once the alpha spark healed my fractured mind a couple of days later.”

Derek watched his uncle. Tracing over every line of his face.

“I am truly sorry about Laura Derek… but I am not the one to be angry at.” He scoffed as Peter just shook his head. “No, listen.. The Argents are to blame. They did this to me… to _us_.”

“So what we just kill them all? They are hunters. They’ll come after us. We’ll never be safe Peter.”

“I’m the alpha now Derek.” Peter flashed his eyes and Derek honestly expected the feeling to submit come over him but it didn’t, which made Peter pause. “Huh… interesting.”

He didn’t know what to make of that or the feeling of nothingness at his families alpha spark. He watched as Peter looked him over before a small smile fell over his face.

“You may not be my beta Derek but Scott is and if I’ve learned anything from watching him is that Y/N is a packaged deal.” Derek couldn’t stop his eyes from flashing at the mention of her.

“She has nothing to do with this.” He managed to grit out over fangs.

“Quite the opposite dear nephew… Y/N was supposed to be _my_ beta. Not Scott.” Derek felt the fight leave him as he looked to his uncle with wide eyes.

“What are you talking about?”

“That night in the woods I could feel it. An alpha spark shining in the dark, so strong. It would make me stronger once it manifested, strong enough to kill the Argents. I don’t know how I found Scott, his scent was similar somehow but when I saw her later on I knew she was the one. My mind however, was already healed. I had no need to turn her… until now.”

Dereks claws came out, eyes blazing as he took a step toward his uncle. He didn’t care that he might loose. He would die trying before he let Y/N be bitten. Peter just laughed then, shaking his head as he sighed.

“Oh nephew, such a short fuse. She was destined to be a wolf, certainly you know that. You remember the stories.”

“She doesn’t want it Peter.” It was the only logical thing to say since, because he knew Peter was right on some level.

He vaguely remembered his mother mentioning alpha sparks but it was only something an alpha could feel not a beta. It seemed like a fairy tale back then. Although he knew Y/N would make a great wolf, that was—a given.

“Not yet.” Derek opened his mouth to object but stopped when Peter walked toward him. “We have a job to do. I wasn’t lying when I said I wouldn’t hurt Y/N now. She is far to valuable and a mate is sacred to wolves, you know this.”

Derek just glared at Peter, his wolf itching for a fight. “She’s not my m—“

“Ah ah. Lie to yourself all you want nephew but I’m not stupid. You care for her and your wolf seems to be very… _attached_.” Peter smirked as he laid his hand on Derek’s shoulder and squeezed. “But make no mistake… I will get Scott to fall in line and if you don’t help me, I will kill Stiles. You know as well as I that Y/N will never forgive you if anything happens to the little Druid.”

Derek was a bit shocked at that—loud, sarcastic, annoying Stiles— a Druid? He had serious doubts. Although he did nothing but stare at his uncle, knowing he was telling the truth. It should be some consolation that Y/N would be safe, but the thought of her hating him made him feel sick. That feeling alone was enough to want to never see her again. Peter was right, his wolf was too attached. Hell, he was too attached.

Peter gave his shoulder a little pat before turning around to go up the stairs. He watched his uncle, a man he didn’t recognize even though he grew up with. He hesitated, pulling out his phone that he felt vibrate in the car incessantly.

**[Y/N] Derek… don’t do this. We can beat him… I don’t know how but we can.**

**[Y/N] Please just.. Come to the house. We can talk.**

**[Y/N] I know why you are doing this, to protect us. We can protect each other Derek.**

**[Y/N] He might be your blood Der… but he’s not the only family you have now.**

He trained his ears to listen to his uncle walk around upstairs before hearing the shower turn on. He took one look at himself, blood stained and shirt torn. He looked like an extra from a horror show. His hand tightened on the phone, staring at the messages before shutting his phone off. He had no choice but to stay. To help. Peter might not be his alpha but he held something much more precious than control over him.

———

Stiles was in trouble for missing the game, with both Coach Finstock and his dad so he was temporarily grounded and Scott hadn’t wanted any company and you sure as hell weren’t going to offer if he did, so you went home. You hoped to find Derek skulking around after you texted him asking him to come but the house was totally and completely empty.

You tried not to let it bother you, just wanting to sleep, but the nightmares kept you up all night. You were thankful when Allison texted you around 7 and asked if you wanted to come shopping with her and Lydia. Normally you would pass but after the night you had you just needed a break.

What you didn’t need was a hike on no sleep.

“Allison, when you said you needed to stop for an errand before we went shopping, a five-mile hike in the woods was not what I was expecting.” For once you agreed with Lydia.

At least you were wearing sensible shoes. You shivered in the cold air, hugging one of Stiles' hoodies closer to you as you watched Allison trek forward, her black bag swinging with every step she took.

“Before I forget, I wanted to ask if you're okay with something. Jackson asked me to the winter formal.” You snapped your head up to look at Allison who hadn’t stopped walking, but Lydia did.

So this was why you were here. You really loved Allison. Hunter be damned.

“Did he?”

“Yeah. Just as friends. But I just wanted to make sure you're okay with it first.” Allison stopped walking, turning to Lydia with a smile.

“Sure. As long as it's just friends.” Lydia shrugged her shoulders, eyeing her gloved hand. You were just looking at the two, head swiveling back and forth like you were watching a tennis match.

“Well, yeah, I mean..” Allison trailed off, laughing lightly before she turned on Lydia. “It's not like I would take him to the coach's office during Iacrosse practice to make out with him or anything.”

You’re eyes went as big as saucers at Allison’s bold statement as Lydia stammered. “Uh About that--”

Allison didn’t let her respond she just turned on her heels and kept walking a couple of feet before she let her black bag drop to the ground. You took one look at Lydia whose face was crestfallen as she stared at Allison.

You were about to say something when your breath caught in your throat as Allison pulled out a bow. A very lethal and hunter-like looking piece of metal. You and Lydia watched as she screwed on a piece of metal in the shape of an arrowhead onto one of her arrows. You carefully placed yourself in front of Lydia without even realizing what you were doing.

“What does that do?” Lydia asked, eyeing the bow warily.

“We're about to find out.” You watched in horror as Allison strung the bow and fired with an expertise that had your blood run cold.

All three of you jumped back when the arrow hit the center of a tree a couple yards away and burst into flames with a resounding boom that echoed through the trees.

You recovered faster than Allison or Lydia, staring at the huntress with a terrified expression. “What the hell was that?”

“I don't know.” Allison’s pursed lip showed that she had no idea what she just fired, but you knew it had to be one of her Dad or Aunt’s hunter toys.

“Well, that was fun! Any more lethal weapons you wanna try out?” Lydia smiled sarcastically moving from behind you to beside you. Allison was fixing to say something when a twig snapped in the distance, causing all three of you to snap your head in the direction it came from.

Allison wasted no time in shoving her bow in Lydia’s hands. “Hold this.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I thought I heard something.”

“So what if you heard something?”

“So, I want to find out what that something is. Don't worry. It's probably nothing.” You knew there was a 99% chance that wasn’t true, and started to walk with Allison but you were stopped when Lydia spoke.

“Well, what if that nothing is something and that something is something dangerous?”

“Shoot it.” Allison gave her a sarcastic smile before turning around. You started to follow but she just shook her head. “I got it, stay here with Lydia.”

“Allison I don’t think--” You were cut off by a hand gripping the back of your hoodie, eyes coming to meet Lydia’s wide green ones.

The girl look terrified so you gave a small sigh and nodded for Allison to go. You took the bow from Lydia’s hands once Allison disappeared in the tree line, coming to stand in front of the bag before bending down to look through it.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking Allison’s advice. If anything is out there, I’ll shoot it.” You rolled your eyes, sifting through her arrows but there didn’t seem to be any more of the special hunter ones. You settled for a regular one, which still looked sharp enough to do some major damage.

“Do you even know how to use a bow?” You picked up the arrow, struggling with the unfamiliarity of the bow but after a few minutes you were able to get it strung.

“Enough to get the job done.” You said, not bothering to draw the bow back, instead walking around the clearing, checking for anything out of the ordinary.

“How do you know how to use one?”

“My dad used to take me hunting. He liked a challenge so sometimes he’d bring a bow. He taught me the basics when I was younger but I never liked it. I preferred a rifle.” You shrugged, taking a break from surveying to look at Lydia who was assessing you with her emerald eyes. “What?”

“Nothing.. I just-- you and Allison are a lot alike.” Lydia said, shrugging.

You just rolled your eyes and went back to checking the woods around you. “Like having hobbies that are beneath you?”

“Like being strong.” Your eyes snapped back to Lydia as she frowned at you before kicking a rock with her ridiculous heels.

“Lydia, you’re strength is your mind.. when you let it be.” You watched as Lydia’s lip twitched.

“Thanks for staying with me. Every since the video store thing…” You nodded, giving her a small smile.

“Yeah. Trust me, I get it.” And you did. At least you knew what attacked her.

“And I’m sorry for always being mean to you.” Your eyebrows met your hairline at the sincerity in Lydia’s voice. “And for messing around with Scott… god, I was just so mad at Jackson and he was hurting over Allison. I didn’t even think about it. I just did it.”

“I’m sorry for sleeping with Jackson… it was… a dick move. I can say it was a rough time for me, and it really was, but that shouldn’t be an excuse for me to make bad decisions.” Lydia watched you carefully before nodding. “And I’m sorry for putting glitter glue in your hair.”

Lydia cracked at that, a full blown smile etching across her face. “God, I totally forgot about that. Yeah, no, I take my apology back that was a very traumatic experience.”

You felt a smile start to bloom on your face as well as you chuckled. You felt a sudden peace fall between the two of you for the first time ever.

“Truce?” You asked hesitantly, looking at Lydia who gave you a small smile.

“Truce.”

“Good. Because your gonna need me to stop Allison from putting an arrow through you about Scott.” Lydia gave you a sour look but you could tell she didn’t mean it.

You were about to say something else when a twig snapped behind you, and you wasted no time in drawing the bow back. You felt your arm burn at the tightness of the draw string, and you knew your hand was shaking but you hoped you would at least be able to hit on some part of the intruders body.

You held your breath, feeling Lydia tense beside you until you saw a familiar tuft of chocolate hair come into view. Along with brown eyes the size of dinner plates.

“Holy shit.” Allison said, arms going up in surrender.

You rolled your eyes, feeling your heart rate start to slow down to normal as you slowly let the bow drop back down.

“You scared the shit out of us. What happened, where did you go?” You asked, handing the bow over to her when she got close.

“It was Scott… he found my necklace and was coming to return it.” You couldn’t bring a smile to your face at the mention of Scott, so you remained silent.

“Great. Now can we please get out of these woods? They give me the creeps.”

You couldn’t agree more.

\----

A whole excruciating day later and you were starting to rethink the whole friendship with Lydia thing.

You were 100% sure you spent more time at the mall today than you had in your entire existence. Lydia dragging you to every store to “enhance your wardrobe and stop dressing like Stiles' twin,” you only took a little offense to that.

And Allison, the traitor, just smiled her dimpled smile and followed along happily. Taking pride in bringing you and Lydia together. Not to say that the hike out of the woods and the car ride wasn’t awkward as Lydia apologized for Scott and gave the shitty reason behind it, but Allison was a nicer person than you or even Lydia was, so by the time you three got to the mall you were smiling and laughing.

It was nice.

Except for the part where you were basically a human Barbie doll.

You felt a little bad about the dip in your account from today, but you couldn’t remember the last time you ever spent as much in one outing. At least you didn’t spend it all on yourself. You ignored Lydia and Allison when they questioned why you needed to go into the men’s store, but you just lied and said you were having to buy some things for a family member's birthday.

You bought multiple t-shirts and Henley's in solid colors, of the dark variety because you knew how much Derek was allergic to anything that resembled sunshine and rainbows. Along with a pair of comfy sleep pants and three pairs of jeans that you hoped were the right size. You tried not to think too much about the fact that he might not ever get to wear them.

You just texted your aunt you did an over-haul on your wardrobe and how much you spent, not even two minutes later your phone was beeping as you were coming through the front door.

**[Aunt Alicia] That’s wonderful sweatheart. Hope you had fun. I’m in Tokyo rn, just bought the cutesttttt komono for you today. Be expecting it in the mail. I went ahead and put another grand in your bank account. Live a little! Xoxoxo ttys.**

“I don’t need any more money.” You sighed, locking your phone and slipping it into your back pocket as you struggled to carry all your bags in.

“That’s a lot of bags.” You shouted in surprise, half the bags flying in the air from where your hands went in the sky.

“Fuck, Derek seriously?!” You snapped at the wolf, glaring at the stupid private smile-smirk he always does when he manages to startle you. “I am going to put a bell on you, I swear to God.”

“Good luck with that.” He said, coming toward you and picking up the bags your dropped. He frowned down at one of the men’s bags, collecting one of his shirts off the floor and holding it in a tight grip. “What is all this?”

“This is what a normal person do Derbear. They wear more than two outfits.” You said, tugging the shirt from Derek’s grip and putting it back in the bag. You sorted all his stuff before handing three bags over to the wolf, who just stared at them. “It is customary to smile and say thank you when presented with gifts.”

He stopped frowning at the bags to narrow his eyes at you. “Why would you buy me clothes?”

“Because with as much blood as you get on yours, you’re bound to need more?” You shrugged, picking up all the bags—including Dereks—and made your way to your room.

You heard rustling behind you, then footsteps and felt yourself smile. You pushed the door open to your room before depositing the 8 bags on the floor half-hazardly and diving on your bed. You moaned as your back popped in just the right spot, but snapped your head up when you heard a thud and whispered curse from the doorway.

You raised an eyebrow at Derek who was rubbing his shoulder. “Did you just run into the door?”

“No.” He snapped which made you laugh.

“You totally did.” You gave him a small smile as you looked up at him from the bed. “Clumsywolf.”

You watched his eyes lighten for the first time like they usually do when it’s just you and him. “I hate you.”

“Sure you do.” You gave him a shit eating grin before flopping back onto the bed. You could hear Derek’s low breathing, but he didn’t make any move to talk to you so you just closed your eyes and enjoyed the quiet.

You felt your eyes getting heavier, the lack of sleep from the night before catching up to you but you forced your eyes open and yourself to sit up. Derek was looking at your bookshelf but the rustling drew his attention back to you.

“You should sleep.” His voice was soft which had you smile.

“I haven’t had much luck in that department since everything happened, I’ll be okay.” You waved off his concern as you bounced off the bed.

You slowly made your way to the bags on the floor and grabbed them all up to deposit them on the bed. You pulled the shirts and pants out that were Derek’s and laid them on the desk for him to inspect but he seemed more interested in watching you. You worked in silence, feeling Derek’s eyes on you the whole time you unpacked all the clothes you bought today. That is, until you started to unpack the bag from Victoria’s Secret.

You let your eyes drift toward Derek who had the familiar redness across his cheeks as he looked down at your school work scattered along you desk. You just rolled your eyes and gathered all your sets and deposited them in your laundry basket to be cleaned.

“You’re adorable.” You cooed which earned you his beta blues.

“You’re annoying.” You just rolled your eyes.

“You know you don’t scare me with your little glow sticks right? That ship has sailed.” You’re breath caught in your throat with how fast Derek moved to have you backed into the wall.

You hit it with a small thud, even as Derek was trying to be scary you knew he didn’t even use an ounce of werewolf strength to manhandle you.

“Is that so?” He was so close you could feel his breath fan across your face. His eyes were still blue, and you might have lied before, because you were terrified.

“You won’t hurt me.” You said carefully, locking eyes with him. “You would never hurt me.”

You didn’t flinch as he beat the wall next to your head. “How can you be so _sure_?”

You gave Derek a soft smile as you shook your head.

“Because you might be all glow sticks and doombrows 80% of the time, but this.” You lifted your right hand and placed it carefully over his heart. “This lets me know I never have to be afraid of you.”

Derek let his eyes ghost over your face before he stared at your hand still pressed up against his chest. You felt your stomach sink when he looked back at you, eyes hard instead of the warm hazel they were moments before. He grabbed your hand before you could remove it and held on tightly, enough to cause you to wince.

“You have to stop this.” He hissed, before throwing your hand away from him and taking a couple of steps back.

“Stop what? I--”

“Doing this. Trying to make me out to be some hero, someone who is better than you think.” You scoffed as you pushed yourself off the wall to go to Derek, but with every step you took he took one backwards.

“We both know that’s a lie. Derek.. you are a good person who had a bunch of shitty things happen _to_ you.” You reached for him but the way he was shaking his head made you retract your hand.

“I can’t do this anymore.” You frowned at him, but before you could open your mouth to ask what this was, he started in on you. “I can’t be your knight in shining armor, or the person you want to fix because your own life is so badly broken. I’m broken enough without adding all your pieces too.”

“I-- I’m not broken.” You felt your heart flutter at the lie and closed your eyes to take a deep breath. “And who says I want to fix you? Maybe.. Just maybe I was trying to be there for you but you wouldn’t know what a friend was if it hit you in the face you gigantic asshole.” You felt yourself getting more angry with every word, but the scoff Derek gave you was what really set you off.

“I can hear your heart whenever your around me Y/N. I’m not stupid. And it’s never going to happen. You’re a child. A broken kid who just wants someone to love them and guess what? That’s not me. And it never will be.”

You felt the blood in your veins run cold as you clench your fists to your side. Scott’s words came crashing over you as your eyes connected with Derek. You could tell by every tensed muscle and furrowed brow that he was trying so hard to keep his wolf at bay.

You didn’t yell, because you were afraid if you did your voice would break, and that was the last thing you wanted Derek to see. “Okay.”

Derek watched you carefully, waiting to see if you would throw a tantrum like the child he just accused you of being, but you didn’t. You stood still, arms by your side, and eyes locked on him. You noticed his shoulders tense even more before he ran a hand down his face, eyes slowly thawing.

“Y/N.. I--”

“I don’t want an apology for saying how you really feel. Now please get out of my room.” You turned around and kicked off your shoes before walking to the desk that Derek was just occupying.

You could still hear his breathing behind you, but you just opened your laptop and started your French homework. 

“Laisser.” You said, knowing Derek would know exactly what that word meant.

It didn’t take long before you heard your bedroom door shut and a silence fall over the room. Your fingers hovered over the keyboard before you slammed the laptop closed and stood up, sweeping all of your papers on the floor with a scream you were sure Derek could still hear.

You thought about the fire you felt in your bones when you were with Derek. It was something you never felt with anyone else. It was something that was slowly consuming you. 

In that moment, it was something you were determined to never let happen again. You let out a shaky breath, but didn’t open your eyes because you could feel wetness behind them and you were not going to cry over Derek fucking Hale. You turned off your light before stumbling to your bed.

———

You didn’t remember falling asleep, but you were jerked awake as your door was flung open and Stiles was screaming at you to move your ass, Scott was hurt. And you did.

Apparently you missed a lot when you fell asleep, like Peter showing up to take mama McCall on a date, like he’s wasn’t a raging homicidal alpha werewolf and a regular human being, and Stiles having to hit his car with Roscoe to end the date before Scott tried to do something stupid and get himself killed.

Oh, and Derek trying to kill Jackson because he knew too much, which you had a suspicious feeling that was an order from Peter, and then Scott trying to fight Derek. _Derek_. Who was a born wolf and a pretty great fighter from what you saw at the hospital.

Your other best friend really shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions. Ever. Oh, and that’s not even the kicker. Apparently hunters attacked the Hale house and Derek played martyring hero to get Scott and Jackson to safety but not before Scott was shot with a wolfsbane bullet.

You were never sleeping again.

You gnawed on your thumbnail the entire time Stiles was speeding to Dr. Deaton’s because apparently the vet showed up to save Scott. You hurried out of the jeep as soon as Stiles threw it in park outside the clinic. You wasted no time hurrying inside with Stiles hot on your heels.

“Scott..” You felt all the tension from the night before melt away you entered into the exam room that was emitting a low light. You stopped in your tracks, Stiles barreling into your back, as you stood in the doorway looking at Scott.

“He will be fine.” You jumped slightly at the sound of Deaton’s voice, moving your eyes away from Scott’s body lying on the exam table.

If you couldn’t see the slow rise and fall of his chest, you would think he was dead.

“What the hell happened?” Stiles asked, coming into the room to hover by the exam table. His eyes were roaming Scott’s body, taking him in, making sure he was really okay.

You couldn’t bring yourself to move closer.

“I suspect Kate.” You felt your blood run cold at the mention of her name.

“I’m gonna kill her.” You hissed, finally coming to stand beside Scott. You pointedly ignored Stiles' surprised eyebrows at your outburst. “Are you sure he’s going to be okay?” You whispered, lifting your hand to brush some of Scott’s floppy brown hair away from his face.

“He will be weak, but I burned the wolfsbane out in time.” You turned to look at Deaton then. Actually look at him. But he looked like the same vet you’ve come to know since Scott started working for him freshman year.

“Not that we’re not grateful, but where the hell have you been?”

Deaton did nothing but raise his eyebrows at you. “Away.”

“You are so creepy.” Stiles mumbled, narrowing his eyes at Deaton.

You couldn’t help but agree. The vet seemed to radiate something you couldn’t put in to words he was just— _knowing_. It was eerily similar to Miss Moral which was why you made sure to keep a deep space between you and the vet. His weird presence wasn’t enough to deter you from telling him off but Scott coughing and wheezing was. You turned quickly, eyes roaming his chest to make sure everything was okay, but it just seemed he woke himself up. You put a comforting hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze as his eyes slowly started to come in to focus.

“Y/N? Stiles?”

“Yeah buddy. We’re here.” Stiles smiled at him, giving him a small pat on the back before Scott tried sitting up.

“I wouldn't get up just yet.” Deaton said, coming around you to stand at the foot of the table.

Scott didn’t listen, instead leaned on Stiles for support as he struggled to sit up.

“Where am I--”

“You're fine. And I've given you something that should speed up the healing process.” You watched Scott process that new bit of information, but he just shook his head and frowned.

“But you're a vet.”

“That's very true. And 90% of the time, I'm mostly treating cats and dogs. Mostly.”

“Mostly?” You were starting to get that Deaton was a lot more complicated than you originally thought.

You watched as the vet just shrugged as if to say what-can-you-do and start to clean up the room. “Okay, so you’re some sort of werewolf doctor. Whatever. Scott’s okay though, right? The wolfsbane is out of his system?”

Deaton gave you an assessing look, sort of like he did when you watched Derek interrogate him. “He’s as good as new.”

“And Derek?” You watched Deaton pause, hands clenching the towel that was stained the same black goo that Derek once threw up on this very floor.

“I couldn’t find him.” He sounded almost upset, but not quite hitting the mark. More like reserved with sadness.

“Couldn’t find him? What the hell does that mean?” He stopped trying to clean and turned toward you, eyes connecting with yours before he let his face show it’s first expression of the night.

“I’m afraid I don’t know where he is Miss Y/L/N.. He’s missing.” You felt your legs buckle, the only thing holding you up was your arms that were firmly squeezing the cold metal table.

You tried to search for something in the Docs usual neutral expression, but the only thing you saw was hesitance. Which made it so much worse.

\---

You didn’t know what to do after Stiles dropped you off at home. You were sitting on the edge of your bed, staring at your window, waiting for a certain sourwolf to climb through it, but deep down you knew that wasn’t going to happen. You checked your phone every once in a while, waiting for a text to pop up from Derek.

Something. Anything. A simple “I’m alive” but it was silent.

You knew who had to have taken him. You knew it in your bones but there was nothing you could do about it. Derek’s hurtful words from earlier kept echoing in your head, calling you a child. How were you, of all people, supposed to go up against Argents? How were you supposed to keep Scott and Stiles safe from Peter?

You let out a frustrated sigh, running your hands through your hair before your eyes caught sight of one of Derek’s dark green Henley's you bought. You took a deep breath, before forcing yourself up. The Argents had taken enough. Peter was right, they were responsible and they deserved to be punished.

You grabbed your keys off your desk and made your way downstairs, stopping to grab your red hoodie hanging up by the door. You pulled it on as you exited the house, trying to be as discreet as possible so you wouldn’t alert Stiles.There was no way he would approve of this plan. Not in a million years. You had no idea how to get in touch with Peter, but you had to try.

You managed to sneak in the retirement home easily enough. You knew this was a long shot but you had to try. The night shift was few and far between and you went directly to Peters old room. You knew he was reported missing from the hospital so all his things were still here. You tore through the room quickly but quietly, hiding in the bathroom once when a nurse went by.

You looked in the last drawer, seeing a contact book. You opened it while pulling out your phone. You saw names you didn’t recognize, along with Derek’s and to your surprise, Laura. You stopped once you noticed Jennifers number. You knew Peter had her body so he must have her phone too.

You dialed the number, not surprised when it went to voicemail after one ring. It was a long shot but you had to try.

”I need to talk to you.” Before pulling the phone away knowing Peter could hear. “It’s Y/N, Derek’s in trouble.”

You put the contact list up and made it out of the building without being seen. You were climbing into your car when your phone started ringing, you were surprised when it was Jennifers number calling you back. You pressed answer, putting your phone to your ear as Peter’s voice came through the line.

” _You my dear, continue to impress me_.”

”Can the compliments Peter, Derek’s missing.” 

_“I’m aware of the situation with the hunters.”_

”You— you’re aware? What the hell does that even mean?! We need to find him... now.”

_”So now it’s ‘we’ is it?”_ Peter sounded all to amused which made you angry.

_”You know as well as I do who has him Peter, so yes.. it’s we. You want a killing buddy then sign me up. Scott doesn’t have the stomach for it but I will gladly help you slit her throat.”_

The line was silent as your stomach tightened. Your fingers were tremblying slightly but you put the car in drive and the phone on speaker.

_”You weren’t lying.”_

You knew what you said was the truth but to hear it confirmed made you cold. You didn’t have time for a self-reflection on yourself so you ignored him.

_”Tell me what to do Peter and I’ll do it.”_

_”For now... do nothing.”_

You stared at the phone just as the line went dead. You glared at your phone like it was to blame before pulling over the car. You hit the steering wheel, your emotions completely taking over. “Do nothing... do nothing? No. Fuck that.”

You peeled off the side of the road before doing U-Turn. You let your anger drive you as you pressed the gas. Knowing exactly where you needed to go. It took no time before you were pulling half-hazardly into the driveway and slamming the door shut as you got out. You looked at the time on your phone, seeing it was a little past Midnight. You didn’t care though, instead you stomped up to the porch, hell bent on finding the truth, consequences be damned.

You slammed your fist into the door multiple times, rougher than called for but there was no stopping now. You would wake the whole house up if you had to.

“Open the door Argent!” You yelled as the door opened up halting your banging.

You had half a second of surprise, before pushing a red haired lady who you could only guess was Allison’s mom out of the way and made your way into the house.

“Argent!” You yelled again, ignoring the woman’s harsh yell to be quiet. You were fixing to walk into the house but a firm grip on your shoulder made you turn around.

You weren’t up to hunter standards, but you knew how to defend yourself regardless. You grabbed Allison’s mom’s hand from your shoulder, twisting it to the right as she gasped. You caught her by surprise.

You threw he hand back toward her, before squaring your shoulders for a fight. It didn’t come though, because you felt cool metal being placed to the back of your head and the click of a safety turning off.

“You hunters and your damn guns.. can’t ever fight fair.” You rolled your eyes, as Allison’s mother glared at you with eyes like a hawk.

You took a minute to look her over, noting how scary she looked now didn’t make you feel any better. You could see Allison’s eyes reflecting back, but they weren’t alight with joy like her daughters. Instead they were cold, heartless.

“Y/N.. so nice to see you again.” You huffed, turning around at the sound of Chris’s irritated voice.

The gun didn’t move, only now you could stare down the barrel. “Yeah, I wish I could say the same.”

“This is the girl you’ve been telling me about?” Allison’s mom circled you, eyeing you up and down as you gave Chris a sarcastic smile.

“Aw, Chris, telling your wife about me? I’m touched.. If not a little skeeved out. I mean I’m your daughters age.” Chris’s eye roll was enough of a victory for you.

So was him lowering his gun to his side.

“What the hell are you doing here Y/N?”

“I’m here for Derek. If you let him go right now, I won’t get the sheriff involved but so help me God--”

“Wait, Derek Hale--”

“--Why would Hale be here?”

Chris asked, talking over Allison’s mom. You looked between the two hunters who were staring at you, but you couldn’t tell if they were lying.

“I’m not buying your ‘ _I'm innocent’_ shit anymore Argent. I know you lit up the Hale house with bullets tonight, and now Derek is missing. **Where. Is. he.** ” You refused to back down under Chris’s stern gaze as his eyes roamed over your face.

You balled your hands into fists, ready to fight if necessary, but you could see the fire in Chris’s eyes starting to simmer. It was a tense few moments before Chris let out a loud sigh before shaking his head.

“We had nothing to do with that Y/N. We don’t kidnap innocent werewolves--”

“Oh no, you prefer accosting them at the gas station and breaking windshields.” Chris visibly winced at that, which you found weird.

“That was just a warning for Hale to stay out of the way. Nothing--”

“A warning? What are you, some sort of mob boss? You get how fucked up that is, right? Derek hasn’t done anything to you or your family, and you treat him like some sort of pariah.. Because of what? The way he was born?”

“They are--” You raised a hand, cutting Allison’s mom off before she could say anything that would make you even more angry. You looked around the house, noticing it was oddly quiet even for it being so late.

“Where’s Kate?” You asked, raising an eyebrow at Chris who just shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m not her keeper.”

“You should be, all this started because of her.”

Chris glared at you then, eyes going hard. “Kate has nothing to do with this. She follows the code just like we do. I don’t know who has been filling your head with--”

You couldn’t help yourself. You busted out laughed, a cold, humorless laugh that made your blood feel like ice.

“You’re seriously going to stand there and lie to my face? You are pathetic. I hope you and your whole damn family of hunters burn in hell for what you did to Derek’s family. You can pretend your psychotic bitch of a sister didn’t murder 11 people in cold blood, but I know the truth.” You turned to leave the Argent house, knowing they were not going to help you.

You stopped at the door though, turning around to see Allison’s mom glaring at you and Chris watching with uncertainty in his eyes you’ve never seen before.

“I love Allison and I would hate her to become collateral damage in all of this but you better hope to God I find Derek in one piece, because if he so much as has a single broody eyebrow out of place, I will light _your_ house on fire and make sure not a single one of you get out.”

You grabbed the door handle with your trembling fingers and slammed it shut behind you with all the strength you could muster. You stumbled going down the steps, finally aware of your heart threatening to beat out of your chest. You slammed the door to your Jetta closed once you were inside and pounded the steering wheel for good measure, but nothing was helping.

You needed to hit someone. You needed to make someone pay for Derek. For all the Hales. You blamed your burning rage for what you did next. Peter was no help, Chris wouldn’t help Derek. There was only you. You’re fingers trembled over the call button as the tiny voice in the back of your head screamed at you to stop.

“ _Well, well, well.. I knew you’d cave eventually Wolfgirl.”_


	11. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N tries to find Derek the only way she knows how, but her plan doesn’t go the way she wanted. With Derek gone, Scott lovesick, and her trying to keep Stiles out of the way, that only leaves Y/N to try and find Derek while worrying about the Argents and Peter Hale.

Derek really shouldn’t have been surprised with how his life turned out, but deep down he had hope that he would eventually move on, maybe even with Y/N after she had pounded how he wasn’t responsible for the fire in his head until he actually believed it. He could be happy and build a pack that he wouldn’t hold at arms length because the crippling fear of feeling any more pack bonds break might very well kill him. That delusion was quickly ripped from his brain as Kate sent another round of electricity surging through him.

All the while, a part of him relished the pain because he deserved punishment for his whole family and while he knew he should never get happiness he thought maybe his punishment wouldn’t come in the form of his worst possible nightmare— Him tied up, half naked, with Kate and a thousand volts of electricity. He’s had the dream before, hundreds of times, but he always had Laura to snap him out of it.

Except now, it’s not a dream. And he’s all alone because he alienated himself from the single most important person in his life that would actually come looking for him. Maybe this was how it was destined to play out. Him all alone in the burnt out shell of his family’s home, in an underground cell made to keep newly turned werewolves, being tortured by the very woman who turned the walls to ash.

“What are you doing to him? Is that gonna kill him?” Derek watched as Allison looked at him, horrified by what her aunt was showing her.

Maybe there was hope for the baby hunter yet.

“Oh, come on, kiddo. Don't get all ethical on me now.” Kate’s voice dripped with patronization as she ordered Luca to hit the button again.

Derek roared as the volts of electricity shot through his body, forcing his wolf at bay. He struggled to breath, heart pounding as his head hung low but he forced himself to look at Kate. At Allison.

“What is he?” Allison asked, her brown eyes round and full of fear.

“Shape-shifter. Lycan. Werewolf.” He couldn’t help but flinch at Kate’s laugh. “To me, he's just another dumb animal... Come here.”

Derek struggled to bring his wolf back up, but he managed to shift enough to try and snap at Kate. It was no use though, he could barely breathe let alone move. “Come here.. See these right here? These are canines, also known as fangs. Made for tearing and rending of flesh. Not something you'd find on those cute little leaf-eating herbivores, is it?”

“This is a joke to you?” Allison was barely looking at him, and Derek could tell she was upset but Kate didn’t seem to recognize her neice’s mental state. 

Shocking.

“Sweetheart, there are werewolves running around in the world. Everything's a joke to me. How else do you think I stay sane?”

“So, it was him at the high school and all the other animal attacks?” Allison finally had the nerve to look at him, and he let his features bleed back to human. He couldn’t form any words, instead he just shook his head no.

“There's actually three of them. Another younger one like him called the Beta, and then there's the Alpha. Alpha's the pack leader. Bigger, stronger, nastier. He’s the one who attacked you in the school.”

“When were they gonna tell me?” Allison asked, looking at him for a moment before she turned her back on him so she could stare at the door.

Kate took that as a sign to lead her out, although he could still hear them talking, bit’s and pieces of the conversation.

“ _They still haven't decided if they're gonna tell you.”_

_“Why?”_

_“Let's just say if you react badly when you find out.. Not good.”_

_“What do you mean, "Not_ _good"?_

_“They don't think that you can handle it. They Iook at you and they see this frightened Iittle girl who's gonna run crying in the corner when she finds out the truth. Me? What do I see? Natural talent. AIIison, you said you wanted to feel more powerful, right? Now's your chance.”_

_“What am I supposed to do now?”_

_“Go to school, do your homework. Go to the formal on Friday night. Be a normal teenage girl who doesn't know anything. Trust me to get everything ready for the next part.”_

_“What's the next part?”_

_“You're gonna help me catch the second Beta.”_

Derek let his head hang low again, all the fight leaving him as he listened to Kate twist her way into Allison’s head. It was over. Another Argent huntress was born.

“Aw, wolfy don’t look so glum. I’m sure Katie will come back and play.” Derek flashed his eyes as Luca but the young hunter just laughed. “Not so tough now are ya?” He smiled as he turned the dial on the electricity for the second time.

He was still struggling from the last shot so now he was left gasping for air, unable to get enough to thaw the burning in his lungs when Luca’s phone started ringing. He guessed it was another hunter, maybe even Kate calling since she had disappeared with Allison to her car and left. He couldn’t focus on his hearing to find out.

“Oh this is just fantastic.” Luca mumbled, grinning at his phone before holding it up for Derek to read the caller ID.

He couldn’t get his eyes to focus on the letters, but judging by the smile on his face and the smell of vicious arousal he thought it could only be one person.

“You even think about saying anything and I slit her pretty little throat, got it wolfy?” Derek shivered at the steady heartbeat and just nodded. It wasn’t like he could form words right now anyway. He made sure of that. “I knew you would cave eventually wolfgirl.”

Hearing that nickname made a low growl escape his throat. His head cleared in an instant, going on full panic mode to bring him back to reality. He knew exactly who Luca was referencing to now.

“ _Where’s Derek_?” He took a moment to just listen to her voice. It sounded angrier than he’d ever heard it.

“Yano, this is always why vets are telling people to chip their pets… incase they run away.” Luca looked Derek dead in his eyes, a playful and menacing smile on his lips.

“ _Cut the shit, I know you have him, or you know where Kate has him. Tell me where he is Luca or I swear to g-_ -”

“What are you going to do wolfgirl… glare me to death? You aren’t exactly a threat baby.” Another growl escaped which made Luca glare at him.

The line was silent for a moment, the only sound was Y/N’s low breathing before she sighed. It was like listening to all the fight go out and it broke his heart.

“ _Please Luca… just whatever you want, I’ll give it you. You want money? I--I have it. Name your price. Just get Derek away from Kate and give him back to me_.”

“Anything I want huh…” Luca mused, eyes going dark and the smell of arousal thickening in the air. “I like the sound of that. Meet me at the Hale house in 10.”

Derek was fixing to scream, yell not to come but Luca shut the phone off before he could get his brain to work.

“Make sure you keep your ears open for this.. Wouldn’t want you to miss a single scream.” That was enough for Derek to shift. His anchor might have been slowly chipping away, but this anger was enough for him to push through the small doses of electricity and shift again.

When he did though, struggling in the chains Luca just shot him a vicious smile and turned the dial. He didn’t release it until Derek could his wolf howled and retreated. He felt his wolf struggling, trying to fight, but it was no use. He felt his eyes going heavy, blackness skirting around the edges from lack of oxygen. He tried to push through, to keep his eyes open but there was no use. The last thing he saw was Luca’s smile as he put his phone in his pocket and opened the steel door and shut it behind him with a loud thud.

His ears faintly picked up a joyful whistling before he heard nothing but silence.

\-----

“This is a bad idea. Very very bad and you are a complete idiot.” You grumbled aloud, taking the last bend in the road before the Hale house came into view.

You didn’t know what to expect. Maybe an ambush of hunters, maybe Derek dead and gutted on the ground for you to find. None of the scenarios running through your head was what you were met with though. Luca. Standing alone. On the porch of the Hale house. Smoking a cigarette without a care in the world. Suddenly, an ambush of hunters made you feel better.

You rolled up to the house, parking beside what you guessed was Luca’s car. A black SUV with tinted windows. You guessed it was typically hunter fashion.

“Wolfgirl it’s been too long.” He smiled once you were out of the car, hopping down the porch and sauntering toward you.

“Not long enough. Where’s Derek?” You crossed your arms, trying to make yourself seem taller—more threatening—but the small chuckle from Luca shows you just missed the mark.

“Katie’s taking _real_ good care of him. Don’t you worry.” You flinched at the sound of his voice and Kate’s name in the same sentence.

“Kate’s a monster. It’s too late for her Luca… but you can stop this. Please do the right thing.” You didn’t have anything else in your arsenal. You were resorted to trying to play to Luca’s humanity but the cold laugh you got in response sent a shiver down your spine.

“Oh princess.. That’s the best you got?” You were fixing to open your mouth when Luca stepped closer to you, right in your personal bubble and leaned in close. “Werewolves killed my family. Kate’s the one who found me and my brother and killed the monster. I owe the Argent’s _everything_.”

You shivered again as your heart rate spiked. Luca pulled back from you, but remained close. “Not all werewolves are monsters. I’m sorry for what happened to your family Luca, but please… Derek doesn’t deserve this. He’s never hurt anyone.”

Luca’s eyes shined with a glint of malice you’ve never seen before. “They’re all monsters. Every single filthy one of them… but because I like you so much wolfgirl, I’ll give you your pet back. For a price.”

“Name it.” You stared at Luca head on, ignoring the pounding in your heart.

“Take off your shirt.” You felt your legs go numb and you could have sworn there was an echo of a howl in the air as you propped yourself up on your car.

You felt your fingers shaking at his words as you stared into Luca’s face. It was unwavering. You knew he wouldn’t settle for anything less than what he was asking of you. It made your stomach churn as you looked into his blue eyes illuminated by the moonlight. You’re heart was beating out of your chest as you raised your fingers, toying with the hem of your t-shirt, but hesitated. You felt tears burning at the edge of your vision, threatening them to spill but you took a deep breath and forced them to go away.

You tried not to hesitate, instead jerking your shirt off and throwing it at Luca’s feet in one fail swoop. You weren’t sure if the cold or Luca’s hungry gaze made you shiver. You didn’t want to think about it.

“There. I don’t care Luca, you wanna fuck me? Fine. Get it over with.” You’re voice came out scratchy but you stood your ground, arms wide open, welcoming.

You bit back the bile threatening to escape as he moved in closer, the smell of smoke still clinging to his breath.

“Oh wolfgirl…. The things I’m gonna do to you.” You couldn’t help from flinching but it didn’t last long before Luca was in your space and grabbing you, pulling you up by your thighs and placing you on top of your hood.

Every place his hands touched felt like ice, causing your body to become numb. His lips trapped yours in a bruising kiss, more painful than pleasurable which you were sure was what he wanted. His other hand moved from your waist to your hair, gripping at it so you had no choice but to keep still.

You didn’t bother moving, not even as his fingers left bruises on your side and your mouth flooded with a copper taste that came from your lip where he bit into it too hard. You just closed your eyes and waited. You were trying to picture anything in your head as you heard the sound of his belt buckle being undone.

Stiles smiling at you. Scott looking at you with his adorable puppy-dog eyes. The sheriff watching you with adoration. Derek in your kitchen cooking dinner. Nothing stuck though, you couldn’t escape the sounds of ruffled clothes. Not until a ringing echoed through the air.

You suddenly felt cold again which caused you to open your eyes but this time it was because Luca stepped away from you. Hands going toward the back of his jeans which were undone and hanging low on his naked hips. You wondered when he lost his shirt but you didn’t care.

“What’s up boss?” You tried to hear the other end of the convo, but alas. No werewolf hearing.

Luca was looking at you, eyes burning but his lip was curved downward. He finally hung up the phone with a put out _I'm-on-my-way_ and you let out a deep breathe.

“Well as much fun as this was wolf girl.. We’ll have to continue some other time. We have an alpha to track.” You watched in silence as Luca grabbed his shirt from the dirt flood, shaking it before putting it back on and fixing his jeans.

You didn’t move, but you did look at Luca. You didn’t need a mirror to tell you how you looked. “What about Derek..”

You voice was smaller than you thought it would sound, especially since you tried your hardest to make it sound strong. Luca came back to you, cupping your cheek in an almost kind gesture but the patronizing smile made you’re stomach drop.

“You didn’t really think I’d betray Kate and tell you where her favorite toy is did you?” You felt sick all over again as he ran his hand down your neck, ghosting over your breasts before pulling away with a sigh. “You are lucky you are so gorgeous.. because you are really fucking stupid.”

You recoiled from his words, even though your subconscious was screaming he was right. You were stupid. Stupid enough to come here alone and stupid enough to enter an agreement with a hunter. You didn’t know how long it took for you to move once Luca was in his SUV and gone, but when you did it was to lean over your car and empty the contents of your stomach onto the ground.

You didn’t stop until there was nothing left, and even after that you didn’t want to move because you were still nauseas. You had to move though, so you grabbed your shirt and threw it on inside out, not caring that the leaves were scratching your back and just got into your car.

The next thing you registered was the steaming hot water as it scalded your skin. You tried to remember how long you had been in there, or even the drive home, but you couldn’t. The only thing your remembered was Luca’s hands on you. You avoided the mirror at all costs as you got out of the shower, but you couldn’t help yourself from looking down at your bare stomach, noticing the light purple bruises on your side. You could see claw marks from scrubbing so hard, your skin a deep shade of red but you still felt dirty.

Seeing the proof of your stupidity on your skin brought you right back to Luca and you spent the next 30 minutes hanging over your toilet bow. With every lurch you felt his hands all over you along with his mouth. You felt a gust of coldness brush over you, but you didn’t let it sweep you away. Instead you turned the shower back on and got back in, picking up the loofa to keep scrubbing until you felt clean.

———

You spent your weekend in a state of fitful sleep and despair. You couldn’t bear to look in the mirror, afraid of what you would see staring back at you. You were lucky that Stiles was busy with making sure Scott was okay. Apparently almost dying from wolfsbane the first time takes a lot out of a werewolf considering he slept all day Saturday.

His Sunday was spent getting stalked by Peter at the clinic, thank god for Deaton and whatever the hell mountain ash was. You didn’t worry too much though, knowing Stiles could at least keep Scott occupied with helping him recover. Which left time for you to do nothing but wallow in your own head.

You didn’t remember actually falling asleep Sunday night but after getting an hour or two at the most all weekend because every time you closed your eyes you felt Luca’s hands on you, your body decided to take measures into its own hands and force you to sleep.

You jolted awake at the sound of your alarm blaring, and you had to work yourself down from an impending panic attack by counting your breaths until you could actually take a deep one. You blinked the sleep out of your eyes but remained in bed despite your alarm telling you to get up for school. You closed your eyes again, hoping if you strained your ears you could hear rustling in the house but it was no use.

It was silent. Just another reminder you failed Derek. He could be dead for all you knew.

“No. None of that.. He’s alive.” You chastised yourself as you threw your covers back and struggled to get your body moving.

You were glad you couldn’t help but take a shower every other hour the past two days. It saved you time getting ready. Although you still didn’t feel clean, you tried by putting on one of the skirts Lydia made you buy and the cute white top that went with it. You were struggling to decide on your vans, just to piss Lydia off because even if you have a semi-truce, it was too good to pass up.

You decided against it though, instead put on a pair of nudge wedges your aunt bought you a summer ago from Boston. You took a deep breath as you headed toward the bathroom, hesitating a moment before looking in the mirror. You couldn’t help feeling even dirtier though there was not a mark on you. The swell in your lip where Luca bit into had gone down, and the clothes covered the fingerprint bruises left on your side. The only evidence that he ever touched you was the purple hickey sucked right into your left jugular.

You wasted no time covering it up but every time you makeup brush ran over it you couldn’t help but feel sick. You tried to make quick work of your hair and makeup, you never bothered much with it on a good day, let alone on a bad one. A little mascara, eyeliner, and just enough concealer for Stiles not to notice the hickey. You heard your phone ringing from the bedroom and hurried to answer it, stumbling slightly in your wedges as you cursed under your breath.

“ _Hurry up or we’re gonna be late loser_.”

You just rolled your eyes. “Good morning to you to asshole.” And hung up.

You grabbed your bag by the bedroom door and made your way downstairs, careful not to fall. You didn’t remember heels being this difficult but you also couldn’t remember the last time you wore any, so.

“Damn.” You snapped your head up to see Stiles staring at you, mouth open in his way of being caught off guard. You rolled your eyes again and started across the lawn just as Noah came out of the house in his uniform.

“Well don’t you look even more beautiful than usual.” You couldn’t help but smile at Noah as he opened his arms for a hug.

You didn’t waste the chance. Stilinski’s gave the best hugs.

“Thanks.” You mumbled into the Sheriff’s uniform, ignoring the way your heart was squeezing too tight in your chest.

“Alright kiddos, off to school. Learn something. Be amazing. And for the love of god stay out of trouble.” You reluctantly let Noah go as he waved you and Stiles off.

“What are you all dressed up for? Please don’t say Matt because--”

“Fuck him.” You scoffed, flipping your hair away from your face as Stiles gave you a small smile. “Maybe I just want everyone to know what they’re missing.”

You were so thankful that Stiles wasn’t a werewolf, especially when he gave you one of his private _im-so-proud_ smiles that you hardly ever got anymore. It was almost enough to make the ghost of Luca’s hands fade away.

Almost.

———

Your semi okay-but-not-really-okay mood died the moment Scott and Stiles started talking about Derek.

“You know, you probably lost it when you two were fighting.” Stiles said, dialing Scott’s long lost phone for the 10th time.

You were done after 3.

“You remember that right, when he was trying to kill you? After you interrupted him trying to kill Jackson? Are you starting to see a pattern of violent behavior here?”

You were about to interrupt Stiles when Scott gave him a scathing look as he checked in the same drawer he checked two minutes ago. “He wasn't going to kill anyone. And I'm not letting him die.”

You always knew it was a good idea to keep Scott. You really really--

“Could you at least think about letting him die? For me?” You smacked Stiles in the arm hard enough to bruise before glaring.

You didn’t notice Scott suddenly stop in place with your stare down going on with Stiles but when he made a wounded noise in the back of his throat you tore your eyes away from your best friends and back to Scott.

“What? What’s wrong?” 

“My mom just got home from work.” Scott looked like someone just kicked his puppy.

“Is she okay? What's she doing?” You asked, coming to stand beside Scott and grab his shoulder for support.

“Crying.”

“Scott, you can't protect everyone…” Stiles said, picking up his backpack and turning toward the door.

“I have to.” Scott whispered and for the first time you realized that the heavy weight you had been carrying wasn’t just in your imagination. 

“Come on, we’re gonna be late for first period.” You just gave him a side hug, leading him out of his room and after Stiles.

You had no idea what to do, but you felt Scott’s words in your soul. You made a vow then to get Derek back, and to protect Scott and Stiles from Peter. You didn’t know how to do it, but you would.

Somehow. Some way. 

———

Derek didn’t realize when he passed out, but he came too again with Kate’s voice floating through the air like honey.

He hated honey.

“Come on, Der. He killed your sister. Now, either you're not telling me because, well, you want to kill him yourself, or, for some reason, you're protecting him.” Derek managed to hold his head up to see Kate rummaging through his wallet, he just let his head fall back down.

He was so tired. 

“Look at that sour face.” Derek didn’t even feel Kate coming toward him until she had his cheeks in between her hands, squeezing them. “I bet you always used to get people coming up to you saying ' _Smile, Derek. Why don't you smile more'?_ Don't you just want to kick those people in the face?:”

“I can think of one.” Derek tried to make it come out a growl but he was too weak.

He could barely move now after having fought tooth and nail to get free Friday night to stop Luca. He used up every bit of power trying to break out of the wolfsbane infused chains and steady flow of electricity to stop him from touching Y/N. Nothing worked though and he could still hear the sound of her broken voice promising the hunter everything if it would save him.

It made his wolf howl in despair and retreat deep within him. No amount of coaxing could get him to come out, not even Kate’s taunting. Derek knew that should say something, that his wolf was so distraught over Y/N but he ignored it. He had bigger issues. Like getting out of here and killing Kate and ripping out Luca’s throat.

In that order.

“Promise? 'Cause if I thought you'd be that much fun, I'll let you go.” Derek rolled his eyes as Kate went back to ignoring him and focusing on Scott’s phone that he apparently lost during their fight. “All right, lets see. Nothing, nothing, nothing. God, I hate this detective crap.”

“Are you gonna torture me or are you just gonna talk me to death, huh?” So maybe his wolf wasn’t up for a fight, but he was.

“Oh, sweetie, I don't wanna torture you. I just want to catch up.” Kate’s humorless giggle sent shivers down his spine. He remembered that laugh from 6 years ago like he was back in her bed and he just told whispered his love for her all over again. “Remember all the fun we had together--”

“Like the time you burned my family alive?” Derek snapped as Kate just chuckled.

“No, I was thinking more about the hot, crazy sex we had. But the fire thing, yeah, that was fun, too.” After all this time, he still flinched. “I Iove how much you hate me.” She sauntered toward him like a cat, hands reaching out, hovering over him but not touching. “Remember how this felt?”

Her hands were replaced by her tongue as she licked from his belt up and he felt his wolf come to life at that, the memories of wet smacking and Y/N’s pained sound fueling a roar. “Mmm, sweetheart, I really don't want to torture you… But he does.” Derek’s eyes flew toward Luca who was propped up in the doorway, eyes staring at Kate and back to him with a vicious smirk.

“I think listening to me have my way with his little pet was more torture than this Katie, too bad I was called away before the real fun started. I’m still salty about that by the way.” Kate rolled her eyes at the hunter but it was like a lightbulb went off and she turned to Derek with a grin.

“I _knew_ you had a thing for the girl.” Kate’s smile was full blown and manic now and Derek just shook his head.

“Leave her out of this Kate.”

By the look in the huntress’s eyes, alight with just as much joy as they were a moment ago when they were talking about her burning his family alive, Derek knew there wasn’t a chance. But he had to try. He owed Y/N that.

“Please.” The plea was every bit as desperate as it sounded which made both hunters eyebrow’s shoot to their hairline.

“Well the day Derek Hale asks me for a favor I know it’s got to be important.” Kate’s smug grin was all Derek saw as she turned on her heal and walked away, not before calling out from outside. “I’ll take excellent care of her Derek.. And when I’m done, I’ll make sure Luca slits her throat right in front of you. You should really know by now baby.. I don’t share.”

———

Your day was uneventful so far, but it was only the third period. Which was shared with Lydia.

“Well don’t you clean up nicely.” You rolled your eyes as Lydia took the seat next to you, which had you pause and look at her.

“Well not all of us can be a goddess Miss Martin but us mere mortals doth try.” Your words were every bit as dry as Lydia’s scoff.

“You’d be more pleasant to be around if you weren’t such a bitch.” You didn’t bother raising to her fight because the word didn’t hold any heat behind it. Instead it felt like an argument between you and Stiles.

“Yes well, what fun would that be?” You caught the faint outline of a smirk on Lydia’s lips and knew you won.

You turned around to see the whole class staring as if you both lost your minds but you just rolled your eyes, fixing to yell at them when Mrs. Anderson walked in to start psychology. You and Lydia were each not paying attention for different reasons.

Lydia because she was a genius and you because you actually read ahead in this class, so you both spent the period swapping notes back and forth about random things and school work, along with making a plan to really freak the students who couldn’t stop gawking at them out.

The plan was a success when you hugged each other and went to your next class. You could hear the gossip milling around from the other end of the school. The great war between Lydia Martin and Y/N Y/L/N finally settled. You were sure the teachers didn’t believe it judging by the wary looks you got the rest of the day.

“So I hear you and Lydia made up?” Stiles asked, saddling beside you and turning his too-bright-to-be-human eyes on.

“For Allison, we have buried the metaphorical hatchet.” You said, fixing Stiles with a look before he could even start. “And no, I will not get her to talk to you because I still think you can do better.”

Stiles was about to open his mouth when a mopey Scott appeared in your line of sight. You actually had to drag him away and toward the lockers before one of the senior basketball players smooshed him.

“Hey… buddy.. You alright?” You asked him, but Stiles answered.

“He’s upset he can’t go to formal.” You rolled your eyes at Stiles as Scott let out a deep sigh. “And that he had to ask Jackson to take Allison so she has someone.”

“This sucks.” Scott whined pitifully as he let his head smack against the locker.

“Look, I know you don’t wanna hear this but maybe it’s for the b--”

“You’re right, I don’t want to hear that. I don’t want to hear how I shouldn’t be going out with her in the first place. I don’t want to hear about how it will never work and I don’t want to hear about how it’s better this way. You don’t know anything Y/N so just shut up.” You raised an eyebrow at Scott’s hateful tone, but just shut your locker calmly before picking up your bag and slinging it over your shoulder.

“When you can get your head out of your own ass, let me know.” You simply turned and walked down the hall to your class, ignoring Stiles call of your name. Scott yelped behind you after the hard thwack you heard, but you kept walking.

You weren’t really paying attention to where you were going, you just wanted to get away from him but in doing so you plowed right into a wall of lean muscle. You looked up momentarily stunned at the fact that the person managed to catch you to see Isaac Lahey staring back at you with wide eyes.

“Shit-- I-- um-- are you okay Y/N? I’m so sorry I wasn’t pa--”

“It’s okay Isaac, it was my fault. Seriously.” You adjusted your bag up your shoulder from where it almost fell to the floor and stood up straight, giving him a small smile. He was looking at you odd though. “What is it? Are you hurt?”

“What? No-no, you just.. You know my name.”

You gave him a puzzled look before laughing. “Of course I do.. Isaac we’ve been in the same grade since pre-k.”

“No- yeah of course, that.. but like.. You are you and I’m me and--”

“What is that supposed to mean?” You frowned up at him, because seriously how tall was this kid.

“It means yano, your gorgeous and captain of the cross country team and--” You felt a slight blush paint its way onto your cheeks as Isaac winced.“I didn’t mean to say that.. Not-not that you aren’t gorgeous, because you totally are, beautiful. But--because I’m an idiot and God, I’m going to stop talking now. Bye Y/N.”

You watched as his blonde cherub like face vanish down the hallway with a quickness you only knew werewolves to have. You were still frowning after him when Allison saddled up next to you, making you jump.

“What are you staring at?” Allison mock whispered, looking in the direction your head was tilted. You opened your mouth to answer but nothing came out. “Did you hit your head on something?” Allison’s laughter brought you out of your head as you turned to scowl at her.

“No, you ass. I just-- I ran into someone and he said…. Am I somehow popular?” You watched Allison’s grin stretched across her face before she burst out laughing.

“Well I mean you and Lydia are the prettiest girls in school and while our Lydia commands attention and rules with an iron fist, you’re more of the oblivious but badass queen gracing her patrons with her presence.” Allison’s grin turned sarcastic and you swatted at her but she shuffled away at the last minute.

“Remind me why I like you Argent?” You sassed, shaking your head as you grinned at Allison who gave you a blinding smile in return. “Ahh, that’s right. The dimples. I stay for the dimples.”

It was Allison’s turn to swat at you but just like her you danced away toward your class, Allison on your heels calling you an asshole the whole way. You couldn’t help but let your heart feel lighter, ignoring everything that happened over the weekend was slowly starting to work.

The rest of the day passed by with you ignoring Scott, which in turn meant you ignored Stiles since he and Scott had their heads low together plotting something that you did not want to know about. Really, you didn’t. Even if their plans are always shit compared to yours and should have automatic veto powers when it comes to them. The more they conspired together, the less likely they were to intervene in your plans. 

Which was to find Derek but you couldn’t do that what with Lydia and Allison forcing you to go formal shopping. You tried to relax as you stepped into the mall, following a couple steps behind Allison and Lydia as they were talking amicably but you could tell Allison wasn’t thrilled and neither were you. 

“Nothing's wrong, I just I have a lot on my mind.” Allison said as she got off the elevator ride up to the top floor of Macy’s.

“You could smile, at lead. Ever heard of the saying ' _never frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile'_? Smile, Allison. I'm buying you a dress.”

“I have to admit as far as apologies go, that's more than I expected.” You chuckled behind them, which caused Lydia to level you with a look. You just gave her a smirk in return.

“Excellent.” Lydia said, ignoring your Debby downer self which was more your preference anyway. 

“But not as much as I'm going to ask.” Your smirk was still on your face as your eyes roamed over the top floor of Macy’s, suddenly feeling an itch you just couldn’t find to scratch.

“What? What's that supposed to mean?”

“It means you're going to cancel on whatever dumb, roided-up jock you said yes to and you're going to go with somebody else.” You shrugged off the feeling, tuning back into Allison and Lydia as the two came to a stop.

“Who?”

You raised an eyebrow, waiting for Allison to answer, but a familiar call of your name told you exactly what Allison was up too.

“Him.” You followed Allison’s finger where it was pointing at Stiles who looked sheepishly at the three of you before giving an awkward wave. “Oh don't frown, Lydia. Someone could be falling in love with your smile.”

You were fixing to open your mouth and yell at Allison but when you saw the blinding smile on Stiles' face, you just closed your mouth. You haven't seen your best friend this happy in a long time and even if you thought this was a colossally bad idea and you would be having words with Allison in private, you remained silent.

Lydia turned to you and gave you an accessing look. “Are you okay with this?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” You countered, raising one eyebrow at her. Lydia’s eyes roamed over your face before giving a perfect nod and turned on her heels and marched over to Stiles and then proceeded to drag him away to go shopping.

Allison’s nudge brought you out of your own head. “You look like you swallowed sour candy.”

“I do not.” You scowled, turning to her to see her smile slowly fading replaced with a worried look.

“Shit.. do you like him? I thought--”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just…” You stared at the spot Lydia and Stiles disappeared through before turning back to Allison. “He’s my responsibility. His safety, his everything, including his heart is _my_ responsibility and Lydia doesn’t… she doesn’t like him like he likes her and--”

“You don’t want him getting hurt?” You just nodded. “I don’t know, I think you’d be surprised. Lydia needs someone like Stiles in her life. Someone who values her brain and not only her beauty. She might not like him like that right now, but she could like him as a friend and maybe that’s what he needs too.”

You looked into Allison’s so-sure eyes and conceded. You knew she didn’t do this to make fun of Stiles, or to set him up for heartbreak, she was genuinely trying to help both of her friends and you just leaned in and gave her a hug.

She returned it, squeezing you tightly until you laughed. You pushed her off lightly, rolling your eyes. “Alright Argent, time to find a dress. Fan out and meet back here in 30.”

Allison gave you a mock salute and ventured off toward the shorter dresses while you turned toward the longer ones. You were looking for a couple of minutes, still feeling completely _off_ before you found a dark, emerald green dress that was short in the front but fanned out behind in a sort of train.

It was gorgeous. And simple.

There was a deep neckline that made you hesitate picking it up, but you can't help yourself. The material had no rhinestones or gems, it was just a wave of green. The top clasped right at the center back of your neck and left nothing to the imagination to the back either. You looked and saw that it was your size and there was not a single dress like it around, so you took it not wanting to hesitate. You knew this was the dress. You wandered around, eyes skimming over others, but none of them compared to the gown in your arms.

You were walking back toward Allison, a strong feeling to check on her over riding your personal senses and when you heard a familiar voice you were thankful.

“ _Sorry if that was intrusive, but considering your skin tone, I'd go lighter._ ” You head snapped to your right at the voice, as you felt the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

“'Cause I'm pale?” Allison’s voice drew you toward her in a brisk run-walk.

“Fair. I mean, you can't call skin like yours pale. Not skin that perfect. Trust me, I have a unique perspective on the subject. Do you mind? See? Much better.” You turned the corner to see Peter Hale offering Allison a silver dress.

If you weren’t panicking so much you would have found it ironic and deeply amusing. “You're not here alone, are you?”

“No she’s not.” You said, sliding up and in front of Allison as Peter grinned. You knew he probably heard you coming a mile away with how fast your own heart was beating.

“Ah, Y/N.. lovely to see you again.”

“You know this guy?” Allison asked, and you turned around to give her a forced smile.

“One of my dad’s _old_ friends. I’m just gonna go..” You pointed over on the other side of the store, not hesitating to grab Peter and pull him with you.

You should be worried about how easy it was to drag the alpha away, but your priority was to get him away from Allison.

“A little offended at the emphasis on old, but High School dances… such a fun time.” Peter mused as you drug him toward the fitting rooms and out of sight.

You noticed some people staring but no one said anything as you pushed him into a stall and locked the door behind you.

“You are a bit young for me darling, but I am flattered.” You shivered as Peter’s words washed over you, and you realized with a pang in your chest you just locked yourself in a small space with a psychotic alpha werewolf. “Relax little one, I’m not going to hurt you.”

You narrowed your eyes at Peter once you turned around, to see him grinning at you. It wasn’t the manic sort of grin he gave you before, this one seemed almost genuine. “You really expect me to believe that? After you killed Laura, threatened Derek and Scott?”

“Laura was a mistake and Derek knows that.” Peter’s eyes went hard, a coldness to them that made goosebumps appear. “As far as Scott.. He’s my beta. He can try to fight it all he wants, but at the end of the day, he’s mine. And so is Derek.”

You stepped close to Peter, eyes glaring holes in the other man’s head as you poked your finger in his chest with every ounce of anger you had. “Over my dead body will I ever let you take Derek or Scott.”

Peter watched you, eyes roaming over your face before it settled on your chest. You could hear your heart pumping, knew it was deafening even to your own ears but you stood your ground. Even when Peter took a step back and gave you a small, almost proud smile.

“You would make an _extraordinary_ wolf.” You felt your lip twitch, but you remained silent. “Would you like the bite my dear?”

You slowly removed your hand and pressed yourself against the wall as you felt your heart beat stop and then work double time. “I— what?”

”I asked if you would like the bite? It is a gift... and you would make an excellent addition to my pack, especially since you were supposed to be _my_ beta.”

You choaked on air, recoiling from Peter’s words. “What the hell are you talking about, I—“

”That night in the woods, I was mad. My mind was still still fractured, the alpha spark I regrettable took from my neice hadn’t quite healed yet and I smelt you my dear. My wolf wanted you as pack, but I somehow found Scott instead.” 

You felt all the air leave your lungs as you dared a look at Peter but he looked completely at ease like he hadn’t just tilted your whole worldview. You tried to think back on the night, why Scott would have been mistaken for you, and Derek’s words reminding you of your clothes came crashing over you.

”My jacket... he— he was wearing _my_ jacket.” You felt a crushing guilt engulf you, a lone tear spilling down your cheek as Peter tsked at you, moving to wipe the tear away.

”It is no reason to cry my dear, I will not bite you without your consent..” 

”Where was that curtesy to Scott?” You hissed, slapping his hand away.

”I was not in my right mind Y/N... you have no idea what it was like, feeling every pack bond break one by one as your body is engulfed in flames. The screams from my family, my wife—“ You looked down then, closing your eyes as Peter’s voice cracked. “I lost everyone and then my alpha _left_ me.”

”Laura was barely 18 Peter and she had Derek to look after. He was 15–” 

His eyes flared red as he growled. “You think I don’t understand that now? Now that I have healed and my mind is intact? But I was hurt and trying to heal and I had been abandadoned by my pack. When I was finally able to move, I was feral. Then I felt who I know now was Laura in my families territory and I snapped.”

”I can’t give you absolution for her Peter, that lays solely with Derek.” Peter’s eyes slowly faded back to blue.

”I am not looking for absolution, I am looking for retribution. For everything I and Derek, have lost.”

You glared at Peter, standing close enough to poke again. “Then kill Kate. Hell, I will help you chop her up in little pieces and bury a part of her in all 50 states but leave the rest of the Argents _alone_.”

Peter’s grin turned almost feral as he leaned in close. “You really would help me wouldn’t you... just like that, even though you barely know Derek.”

”I know that Kate deserves _everything_ coming her way.” Peter looked at you for a moment then nodded.

”Fine.” You slowly let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. “I will leave the others... but you will help me—“

”Once we get Derek back, I will do whatever you need me to.” Peters eyes flashed briefly before he leaned toward you.

You refused to move as Peter but your breath caught in your throat. He didn’t do anything though, no flashing eyes or fangs seeping into your skin, instead he reached around you and flicked the lock to the stall open.

You had no choice but to shuffle out of the way as Peter made his way out, but before he disappeared he stopped and turned back to you with that same kind smile.

“That dress will look phenomenal on you.. Green was always Derek’s favorite color.” You drew the dress closer into your arms, holding it protectively as you watched Peter walk away.

You stayed in the dressing room for a short while, reeling from everything that just happened. 

———

The rest of the week flew by without a hitch. You were still struggling with guilt over Scott and you hadn’t found a right time to tell him, especially seeing as he is going through his “woe is me” because of his breakup with Allison. Peter kept you updated through texts, trying to find Derek but no luck.

You were following your own leads, which Peter wasn’t happy about but you could care less what the creepywolf said so you continued to stake out the Argent household. And it had been going great up until tonight. You had been casing the house every night this week, waiting for Kate to come back but so far she hasn’t. You could feel your eyes slowly starting to slide shut as you looked at the clock reading 1 am. You’re sleep schedule has been suffering all week because of this, which was also putting a damper on your grades.

You failed 2 quizzes already and you were sure your English essay which was done in 30 minutes before class in a red bull induced haze was going to come back with a bright shiny F as well. You didn’t care though, you had priorities, and right now the number one was finding Derek. So you waited.

It wasn’t until almost 3 am before you felt yourself jostled awake by your car door opening and slamming shut. You jumped, eyes going to the center console where you put your pepper spray for emergencies but was stopped by a hand. One belonging to Chris Argent.

“I figured you could use some coffee. Stake outs are rough business.” You pulled your hand from Argent’s grip, eyeing the older man as he held out a cup of delicious coffee in a thermos. The aroma was almost mouth watering but you didn’t take it.

“I know better than to drink the Kool-Aid. What do you take me for, an amateur?” Chris raised one very judgy eyebrow at you before taking a sip of the thermos while staring at you.

You rolled your eyes at the hunter and continued looking at their house. It wasn’t like you were surprised he noticed, you weren’t exactly being stealthy. No blacked out SUV and tinted windows, just your silver Jetta.

“What exactly are you hoping to find Y/N?” Chris asked, sitting the thermos in your front cup holder and looking toward his house.

“Kate.” You felt all the air sucked out of the car at her name, and you turned to see Chris glaring at his own house.

“I don’t know where she is… she hasn’t returned any of my calls.” You nodded along, not knowing what to say to that. You wanted to believe him, you really did, but you couldn’t and he knew that judging by the long sigh he let out. “Drink the coffee kid. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

And with that, he left. No threats of bodily harm, no trying to make you listen, he just accepted the fact that he was going to have a teenage shadow monitoring his house like it was no big deal. You watched as Chris climbed his front porch instead of going around the back where he came from, his expression noticeable in the dim light of the porch. He almost seemed sad.

You waited for him to turn off the front porch light, making your job harder but he never did. In fact, he turned his yard lights on as well so you had a clear view of the gate leading into the back yard incase someone were to sneak out, or in.

You frowned at the house, then down at the thermos of coffee that still smelled so good. You hesitated before grabbing the cup and taking a hesitant sip. It was vanilla hazelnut, your favorite, which should disturb you but it felt comforting. You continued to sip on the coffee until it was gone, and then watch the Argent house until it was time for school.

You made your way back to your house but soon your eyelids refused to stay open for longer than 10 seconds. You didn’t even make it to your bed, instead focusing all your energy into a text to Stiles claiming PMS and fell into a deep sleep on the couch.

You awoke roughly 10 hours later to your front door opening and slamming shut.

“Huh...wassa.. ‘M wake.” You heard a soft chuckle come from the door, turning your head you saw Melissa watching you with her kind eyes that Scott inherited.

“How’re you feeling honey? Noah said you texted Stiles you weren’t feeling good and staying home, he called the school but asked if I could check on you before my shift.”

“I’m fine.” You sat up slowly, shaking the sleep from your head. “Stiles is a worry wart. I told him it was just cramps.”

“Stiles told Noah you haven’t been sleeping at home all week, you’ve been staying with Allison?” You looked up to see Melissa’s eyes watching you like a mother who knows their kid is lying.

You really hated lying, especially to Melissa and Noah but you didn’t have a choice. They would be so worried about Scott and Stiles if they knew what was going on, and there wasn’t a reason for them to worry because you weren’t going to let anything happen to their boys. So you lied with the only thing you knew that would get them off your back, but you felt sick to your stomach doing it.

“I love Stiles and Scott.. And you and Noah.. You know I do… but now I have someone who doesn’t look at me and see this orphaned little girl who needs to be looked after. It’s nice yano? Having a friend that wasn’t around for the panic attacks and the therapy sessions that ended in more broken plates than anything. I feel like before my parents when I’m with her.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie. It was what Stiles called a half-truth. You watched Melissa’s big brown eyes turn red rimmed as she carefully walked to you and pulled you in a hug. You froze though, for some reason, but Melissa just pulled you tighter into her chest.

“No one sees you like that honey, especially Scott or Stiles. They love you so much, we all do. I’m sorry you felt like.. Do you know what I see when I look at you?” You shook your head no as you took a shaky breath. “I see a strong, independent woman who is so, so brave. Don’t for one second think you aren’t.”

Melissa’s arms were comforting in a way you haven’t felt in a really long time and you just sunk deeper into the embrace, even though you wondered if she would have said that about you if she knew what happened with Luca. You didn’t remember falling back asleep, but you slowly started to wake at the soft whispers in the room.

“ _Sometimes it’s so easy to forget she’s just a kid. I mean last week I went to pick up Stiles' medication and Sharon told me it was already paid for and when I asked who paid, she gave me that look and said 'Henry’s gir_ l'.” You didn’t have to open your eyes to know it was Noah.

“ _I know what you mean, I went to pay our water bill which was going on three months past due and the lady told me the balance was paid in full plus for the next two months_.” You forced yourself not to grin at Melissa’s annoyed tone, but you knew deep down it was out of love.

“ _She takes care of all of us so much.. I worry about her in this house all alone but she won’t move into the guest bedroom no matter how hard I try. She said unless I accept rent, she wasn’t moving in. Stubborn that one, just like her old man_.” Noah’s wistful tone was enough to make your heart ache. You sometimes forgot that you didn’t just lose your parent’s but Noah lost his best friend.

“ _She looks so much like Christine. Sometimes I see her and my heart will catch in my chest and I’ll have to do a double take_.”

That was something you always tried to avoid thinking about. You had pictures from your mom when she was your age, and you knew the resemblance was uncanny, but to hear it out-loud, spoken by someone else, it was heartbreaking.

“ _I know what you mean. Her looks, that’s all Chrissy, thank god. Henry always said she hoped to grow up and look just like her mamma. Her brains are Chrissy’s too. But that stubborn, no back down grit and the almost pathological need for protection though? That’s all Henry... God, he would be so proud of her._ ”

“ _They both would._ ”

You decided to make your presence known, rolling over so you could face the only two parental figures you had in your life.

“Morning.” You yawned, sitting up right and reaching for your phone. “Shit, it’s late. I was supposed to meet Allison at Lydia’s to get ready for the dance.”

You stood up quickly, almost bulldozing into Noah to give him a hug and then to Melissa to give her a quick kiss and a thank you, before running up the stairs. You started throwing your makeup bag, your black heels that just looked like they were going to be painful, and your phone charger in your cross country bag. Along with a spare shirt and sweats to sleep in since all three of you were supposed to stay the night with Lydia.

You grabbed your dress off the hook and ran down the stairs to see Melissa and Noah watching you with faint amusement.

“Alright, well I’m going home to Scott so I can help him get ready. Make sure you girls take lots of pictures, I want to see, okay?”

“Yes mam.” You gave her a small smile as you grabbed your car keys off the floor by the coffee table.

“Alright, so what’s the rules about parties?” You rolled your eyes before turning to Noah with a grin.

“No drinking.” Noah scoffed, giving you a pointed look. ”Okay, no drinking and driving. Stay together, stay safe, and no taking drinks from any guys even if I know them. No going off alone. Always make the guy wear a con-- ”

“Y/N!” You laughed at Noah’s face, which was suddenly becoming redder and redder. Melissa just laughed herself out the door. Noah gave you a tiny glare before turning to leave too. “I’m on the night shift, I expect your phone to be on at all times!”

You followed behind him and out the door, making sure to lock it for Noah’s sake. You gave him a quick kiss on the cheek too before jumping in the car and putting all your stuff in the passenger seat. You watched Stiles poke his head out the front door, and give you a dumb wave.

“I’ll see you tonight!” You called from the car window as you backed out of the driveway and headed toward Lydia’s.

\---

You regretted ever becoming semi-friends with Lydia. You felt ridiculous. You were just going to put on your bare minimum makeup but Lydia wasn’t having any of it. Instead she did your makeup and curled your unruly hair and pinned it up so only a couple of strands were falling down.

You felt exposed as you climbed out of your car and slammed the door shut. There was no way you were riding with Allison, even if she begged, and you wanted Stiles to have his privacy with Lydia. You turned toward Jackson and Allison who were walking side by side and decided to walk in with them.

Jackson’s eyes raked over you but he didn’t comment which you were grateful for.

The music wasn’t too loud and the decorations were just enough to not be overbearing. You knew there was a reason why you voted for Lydia for Dance Coordinator even before you became friends. You turned to your left to see a couple of lacrosse players eyeing you before an arm fell around your shoulders.

You were gonna brush it off until you realized it was a very tanned arm that could only belong to. “Damn, Y/L/N. I think I’m gonna have to take you up on your offer to at least try out the other team.”

Allison laughed out loud as Jackson rolled his eyes, but smirked slightly as you heard him not-so whisper. “10/10 would recommend.”

You punched his arm as hard as publicly acceptable and gave him a sharp smile when he yelped in surprise. Allison laughed harder.

“Come on before the hyenas pounce.” You rolled your eyes but accepted Danny’s hand as he led you to the dance floor.

It was all innocent touches as Danny wrapped his arm around your waist and you started swaying to the music, making sure to keep enough distance that wouldn’t alert the teachers but still enough to be fun.

You danced with Danny for almost three songs before calling it quits, pushing Danny toward Eric Connors who was eyeing Danny in a way that made you kind of want to watch. You started toward the punch bowl, but veered off course when you spotted Scott.

You knew he told Melissa he was coming but Jesus, stealth was not his thing. You grabbed him by the arm, which apparently scared him and dragged him up the bleachers.

“You aren’t even being careful, it took me two seconds to spot you!” You scolded him as you swatted at his arm so he would drag his eyes to you and away from Allison. He was about to open his mouth when Finstock's voice boomed over the music.

“McCall! I see you! Come here, buddy. Come here.” Scott swore and took off down the bleachers, dragging you with him and into the crowd as Finstock yelled his name. “I got you, McCall! Come here, come here! Get outta my way! McCall!”

“Danny, Danny, dance with me.” You laughed as Scott grabbed Danny from Eric, and you knew exactly what he was up to.

“What?”

“Dance with me.”

“No.” Danny frowned down at Scott before looking at you, you just shrugged and grabbed Eric’s hands and placed them on your waist. He seemed surprised but started moving in time with the music as a slow song came on.

“Please! Right now! Right now! Come on.” Scott quickly put his hands around Danny’s neck and stepped into his space and you couldn’t help it, you hid your laugh in Eric’s chest.

“McCall! You're not supposed to.. what the hell are you doing?” The music stopped right at the time Finstock confronted Danny and Scott.

“Yes, Coach?” Finstock looked like a deer in headlights, and Scott was so going to hell for this.

“Okay.. Hold on, you-I was just saying he's not supposed to--I mean, I wasn't saying that he shouldn't--You guys don't think--You don't--I-I was Just dance, everybody.” Coach yelled nervously, flapping his arms around. “Just dance! It's a dance! It's a party!”

You were almost crying in Eric’s chest now, and you knew he was laughing to by the way it was vibrating. Once Finstock was gone though, you let him go and gestured toward Danny who Scott just left with a quick thank you. You dropped a kiss on Danny's cheek before making your way out of the mass of slow dancing bodies.

You made your way over to Scott and Allison, smiling at the lovebirds. Allison was holding her clutch as Scott held out his hand and you grabbed it from her and made a shooing motion which caused them to grin.

“Young love.” You mused, rolling your eyes and walking to an empty table. You just sat down when your hand started vibrating, signaling an incoming text. You didn’t want to bother her, since she was staring into Scott’s eyes so you opened the clutch to pull out her Iphone.

You almost dropped it when you saw who the incoming text was from.

**[Kate] Meet me at the Hale house after the dance. It’s time.**

You hesitated, thumb hovering over the reply button. You took one last look at Allison laughing with Scott and felt bile rise in your throat. A million questions flew through your mind, but the most important was did she know what her aunt was doing all along.

You couldn't believe it though. Allison was a ray of light where Kate was pitch black, you couldn’t bring yourself to think that she would be okay with burning down a houseful of people, children. Hell she didn’t even have a password on her phone. You looked back to the phone making a split second decision and deleted the text before opening it.

You looked around for Lydia but couldn’t find her or Stiles but you couldn’t think about that right now. Instead you found Danny sitting at a table with Eric and some other lacrosse players. You made your way to them, ignoring some of the cat calls when you got closer and shoved Allison’s clutch at Danny.

“Woah where’s the fire?” You couldn’t help but flinch.

“I have to go, give this to Allison once I’m gone.” You didn’t wait for a reply before you started running out of the school.

A couple of people said your name as you pushed them out of the way, but most ignored you or made a path. You made it to you car in record time, you didn’t even have time to be impressed with how fast you could run in heels. You jumped in, clicking your seatbelt and peeled out of the parking lot.

You broke every speed limit sign from the school to the Hale house driveway, then slowed down. You knew the driveway led right to the house in almost a straight line, so you turned off your headlights. The light from the moon was enough for you to make it up to the house without ramming your car into a tree.

You got out quickly, fixing to go in when you felt your heel sink into the ground. Cursing quietly, you kicked off your heels and opened your back door. You were glad you always kept a pair of tennis shoes in your car.

Once you had them on and laced up, you started toward the house. You were tempted to call out, see if Derek could hear you, but if he could, he would have already said something. Your brain unhelpfully provided reasons why he couldn’t say anything but you chose to ignore every nagging feeling and enter the house.

It was just like you remembered, everything a shell of what was once a magnificent home. You strained your ears but heard nothing. Not even the wind blowing. You were fixing to make your way upstairs when something caught your eye.

A door that usually was closed wasn’t any longer. You crept closer, careful to avoid anything that could trip you up and peered around to see the door led to what you guessed was the basement. You tried to push away every horror movie Stiles made you watch because your brain was screaming at you not to go down there.

Naturally, you went anyway. “Derek?”

Your voice was barely above a whisper as you carefully descended the stairs. It was pitch black until you got halfway down and saw a light coming from the left side of the basement. You noticed the basement was just as damaged as the rest of the house, even with the concrete.

You carefully moved around to see the basement was just as huge as the house itself, branching off in different directions that resembled more like tunnels than hallways. You had a bad feeling as you walked closer toward the lit tunnel, because now that you could actually see, that was what it was.

A tunnel. Under the Hale house.

You knew this was where they died. Kate must’ve managed to seal off the exits somehow and when they went to flee, they were trapped like animals. You felt around for something, anything but there was nothing but emptiness and a free hanging light every couple of feet.

You continued walking until you could no longer see the basement at all, only tunnel. When the tunnel took a slight right, you went with it and came face to face with a large metal door on one side with another on the left. The lights continued on down the hallway to reveal two more on either side then more tunnel.

You hesitated on the first door, eyes looking around for someone, ears searching for some noise, but it was deathly silent. You grabbed the metal door, feeling the coolness against your skin and didn’t wait to slide it open.

The past week a hopeful part of your brain kept saying you were being irrational. That Derek was fine and off somewhere doing wolfy things and just hadn’t come by because of your fight. Honestly, the last thing you thought you would find behind the door would be Derek strung up to a metal fence, wires hooked up to him, and his hands hanging above his head.

“Y/N, run! Get out of here-- Go!” You felt yourself relax as Derek screamed your name, knowing he was still okay.

“Shut up Sourwolf, I'm getting you out of here.” You took one step into the room then another as Derek opened his mouth, before you could reach him, before he could say anything else, you felt your whole world go to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lets face it, I think Peter got a raw deal in the show and his character development was a little spotty and we just aren’t even gonna talk about season 4 because there is no way Peter Hale would work with Kate Fucking Argent soooo, Peter’s character is definitely gonna be better in this re-write.


	12. The Great Escape

You woke up to your head on fire and a low growling in the room. You groaned as someone ran their fingers through your hair, and onto your face outlining your cheek down to your neck. The growling only got louder until you heard a laugh that made your eyes snap open.

“Don’t touch her.” Derek’s eyes blazed that blue you were so familiar with as he snarled at Kate. You moved out of her grasp but the sudden jarring made your head feel like marbles were tumbling around in it.

“She really is pretty Der. You know who she looks? Your Aunt Merida, Peter’s wife? The bone structure, the killer eyes, but her hair is not quite right. To unruly.”

“How about you untie me you psychotic bitch and I’ll show you unruly.” You strained against the chair you were duck-taped too which made Kate laugh again.

“I love a fighter.” She said, bending down so she was eye level with you, a smirk playing on her lips.

You knew from years of having a policeman as a father and pseudo-father that rule number one of kidnapping was not to antagonize your kidnapper. You were supposed to make yourself appeal to their humanity, but looking in Kate’s eyes you knew there was no point. There was nothing you could do or say to make her let you go And over your dead body were you going to make this easy on her.

You reared your head back before slamming it in her face, ignoring the ache in your head and the loud curse coming from her. Head-butts never really work out for anyone involved, especially someone who was pistol whipped but you tried to not let it phase you as you spat toward her.

“Fuck you.” You were glaring at her, ignoring Derek’s angry scream of your name. You waited for a retaliatory blow, but nothing happened.

Instead Kate was smiling, blood dripping down her nose and into her mouth as she grabbed her shirt and wiped the blood off her face, before turning to Derek who was watching you with fear filled eyes.

“Don’t you touch him. Don’t even look at him!” You screamed, trying to break free of the duct tape that was rubbing your wrists raw.

And of course it was duct tape, it couldn’t be something easy like rope or handcuffs. It was like she knew you.

“Oh she’s going to be so much fun to break Der. And do you know what the best part of that is?” Kate asked, ignoring your struggling. One piece of duct tape snapped, but Kate was smart enough to wrap it up multiple times.

“Please, Kate. I’m begging okay? That’s what you want, right? Me to beg… like a dog?” Derek’s voice made you stop struggling, you looked up to see his kaleidoscope eyes red-rimmed, pleading with the true monster in front of him.

“Sweetie…” Kate’s voice dripped with honey and venom as she reached for Derek’s face.

“Touch him and I swear to god Kate, I will rip your throat out.” You’re voice had a calmness to it that scared even you.

She turned on Derek then, eyes roaming over every inch of your face, looking for fear, but there was none. You weren’t going to give her the satisfaction. You had come to terms with your own death that night you drank yourself silly to forget your parents. You were prepared to meet them, your mind slowly drifting into white, but you were brought back by Stiles and then by the hospital staff.

This was nothing. If anything, this was a noble death. You had a brief flash of Stiles and Noah, but you tried not to think about them. If you did, your heart would become conflicted and you couldn’t have that. You had to get Derek out of here. He was the only one who could keep Peter in check—because you didn’t trust that psychopath to keep his word— and to keep Scott and everyone you loved safe.

“You want to fight Kate? You want to put me in my place? Untie me and let’s see who’s left standing.”

Kate’s grin was vicious as she started toward you but Derek’s protest made her stop.

“Y/N for the love of god shut up!” His voice was just as angry as his face was but you just smirked at Kate.

“Come on, you know you’d love to shut me up, so do it. Untie me.” Kate seemed to be considering her options, but before she had the chance her phone rang.

You watched her frown down at the device on the table beside you, before sighing and clicking it off and putting it in her back pocket.

“There will be plenty of time for me to shut you up hunny, I’ll make sure Luca leaves you in one piece for me to finish.” You barred your teeth at her, subsequently so did Derek.

You have been hanging out with the wolves too long.

“Until then, how about you two say your goodbyes? Consider it a gift.” Kate smirked all the way out the door as you screamed awful things at her until the metal door shut in place.

“The place is soundproof, there is no point in yelling. No one will hear us.” Derek’s voice dragged your eyes away from the door back to him, where he was looking at you with such regret.

“Stop that.” You snapped, rolling your eyes as you started struggling once more to get out of the duct tape.

“I’m so sorry Y/N--”

“Shut up Sourwolf, we’re going to be fine. I’m going to get out of this duct tape and..” You let your wrists rest from the burning of struggling as you took a deep breath. “And get you untied too. We’re gonna be just… fine.” You had to take another pause from struggling as your head started to pound even harder than before.

You rested against the back of the chair, eyes falling closed as the adrenaline was slowly leaving your body. Every breath hurt as your head was vibrating. You could rest for just a second. Just a quick minute.

“You’re bleeding..” You cracked one eye to see Derek’s furrowed brow and chuckled humorlessly.

“You’re chained up to an electric fence. We’ve both had better days.” You watched as Derek’s lip twitch but he remained silent.

You don’t know how long you struggled, but eventually the pain in wrist became too much so you had to stop. You didn’t remember closing your eyes again but you must have even as Derek was telling you to stay awake. A low growl was what woke you up yet again, and you had no idea how long you were out this time. You were able to come back to consciousness a lot faster, which was a good sign at least.

“Derek what is—” Before the question came out, the metal door was flung open and Luca sauntered into the room and shut the door behind him.

In that moment you felt yourself shrink back into the chair, trying to make yourself as small as possible. Luca’s eyes were on you immediately, that familiar smirk making your stomach churn as he walked slowly toward you even as a dangerous snarl echoed through the room.

“Oh wolf girl, don’t you look _delicious_.” You hated yourself for flinching as his hands reached for you.

“Touch her again and it’s going to be the last thing you ever do.” Derek’s voice was ice and it sent a shiver down your spine.

“Aw puppy doesn’t like to share his toys?” Luca taunted, his eyes never leaving you as he ran a hand through your hair, grabbing the back roughly causing you to whimper.

It was the exact spot Kate hit and it sent a blinding pain through your skull when he pulled back, making you expose your throat. You couldn’t move. Not because of his hold, but because your body was frozen. You heard Derek snarling and growling as Luca pressed his lips down the expense of your neck and down your naked arm.

“Y/N.. God..” You could hear the desperation and fear in Derek’s voice, the metal from the fence moving, but you knew he couldn’t save you. “Y/N.. just listen to my voice okay? Whatever happens just-- just listen. Okay?”

“Now you want to talk? _Stubbornwolf_.” You clamped your eyes shut, trying to ignore the wetness on your throat as Luca sucked a painful hickey at the base of your throat.

A painful reminder of last weekend fresh in your head, but you pushed it out. You pushed every touch and feel of him out of your head. You weren’t going to let this happen again. You weren’t going to let them win. If you were going down, it wasn’t without a fight.

You vaguely heard a gutted laugh as you pulled away to look into Luca’s eyes. “You can’t exactly do what you want with me if I'm tied to a chair.”

You made your voice sound breathless as Luca pulled back to grin at you.

“No, I guess I can’t, can I?” Luca smirked as he reached in his back pocket and pulled out a wicked looking knife. “You’re going to be a good girl for me if I untie you, right baby?” You took a deep breath, eyeing the knife that will probably end your life.

You let out a shaky yes, not having to pretend to tremble, but what the hunter didn’t know it wasn’t because of fear. 

“Y/N..” Derek’s voice was low, a warning, but you couldn’t just not do anything.

You wouldn’t.

Once both wrists were undone, you waited. You could tell it threw Luca off but once the shock melted away, his smirk was back.

“Stand up for me gorgeous.” You gripped both armrests and slowly stood up, getting your feet firmly under you.

You vision blurred a bit, but overall you were steady. Which was good. You let your eyes roam over the electric fence, trying to find what it was connected to, but there were so many wires that even if you pulled one, it wasn’t likely to free Derek. Until you spotted a huge hunk of machinery with a dial that was set up and the long, thick black cord running behind the table and into an extension cord. That, would definitely free Derek. You waited as Luca circled you, like a cat playing with a mouse.

He didn’t make a move for a good two minutes until he lifted the blade and let it slowly run down your arm, causing to jump back as he cut you. You held your arm as Derek growled very detailed things he was going to do to Luca but the hunter just laughed. It wasn’t bleeding much, but you held the cut anyway. You looked down to see the crimson coating your hands but you just wiped it on your dress. It was a goner anyway.

“I’m not really into blood play, thanks.” You gave him a sarcastic grin which made him laugh.

“Yeah but see, I really am. And I got to say, you look even hotter bleeding.” Luca’s eyes were burning as he looked over your body, and you knew this was it. It was time to fight.

He wasted no time jumping on you, trying to grab you without actually fighting. That was his first mistake. Your knee caught him by surprise long enough to knock his knife out of his hands and when it clanged to the floor, you didn’t waste time trying to get it. That was his second mistake. He took his focus off you and onto his knife which let you get in a shot the back of his head with your elbow which sent him to the ground. You knew it wasn’t nearly enough pressure to knock him out but it stunned him long enough for you to dive under the table.

You quickly pulled the black cord, stopping the electricity running to Derek just as you felt a strong hands wrap around your ankles and drag you across the cold concrete. Your skin was burning from the skid, but you couldn’t focus on it as you were being turned over on your back.

“You stupid little bitch.” Luca sneered, his face close to you as he pressed his body between your legs, putting all his weight on your so you couldn’t move.

You struggled in his grip as you saw a flash of metal and the knife that was hovering above you. You could barely hear Derek screaming to hold on as everything slowed down. You could hear your heart slamming against your chest as you grabbed Luca’s hand that was pressing the knife down on your heart with both of your own.

You could feel his other hand on your waist, the bruise from last weekend still sore and causing even more pain as he held you down. The knife was coming closer to your chest with every breath and no amount of strength from you was going to stop it. Instead, you-directed it. Derek was still growling, trying to regain strength as you moved your hands up a couple of inches toward your shoulder and let go. You screamed as Luca’s knife pierced through your shoulder, and apparently that was all it took before Derek was busting out of the fence and coming toward you.

Luca had already ripped the knife from your shoulder-- which, how the hell did that hurt even more-- and turned toward the real threat but before he made to turn, he was yanked off you and slammed into the wall with a sickening crack that made your stomach churn.

“Y/N!” Derek’s face was hovering over you as you gripped your shoulder.

“I-- I’m okay.” Your voice was shaking as Derek got his arms around you to lift you up.

“You just got stabbed, you are _not_ okay.” He hissed, turning around so he could put you in the chair so you were up right.

You watched as he frantically looked around for something, then cursing and ripped a huge chunk out of his jeans. You watched him kneel in front of you, eyes full of uncertainty and guilt as he hovered, but you couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m alive.” You said with a grin, but Derek wasn’t laughing. Or smiling. Instead his face got even more grumpy and his doombrows came out full force. “Hey, no no. No doombrows.. You’re safe. And I’m alive.” You mumbled, reaching out to soothe Derek’s eyebrows but he caught your wrist midair.

You hissed in pain at even the minor pressure, which had him letting go immediately.

“We have to stop the bleeding, this is going to hurt but I need you to put pressure on it.” You felt yourself nod but your whole body felt like ice.

“Fuck.” You mumbled, too tired to yell as Derek placed the torn jean fabric to your wound.

“Keep pressure on it okay?” You reached for his hands and once you got ahold of the already damp fabric he released it. You looked down at the fabric, wondering why it was wet already, and noticed the dark stain coming through at an alarming rate. “Y/N?”

“Huh?” You lifted your head slowly to meet his eyes, which were staring at you with so much concern. “Why do you keep frowning?”

You reached for him again, and he stopped you, again. This time though, he grabbed your fingers and gave them a tight squeeze. “I asked if I could touch you..”

You rolled your eyes before smiling, leaning your head on his shoulder. “Always Sourwolf. _Always_.”

You felt Derek’s arms go around you so gently it made you snort until the movement jarred your shoulder. You winced, inhaling sharply as he mumbled an apology which made you forgive him immediately. Derek turned to step around a table housing some books and stuff before your eyes landed on Luca’s body crumbled against the wall.

A slight indent in the concrete behind him painted a vivid picture. “Der… is he--”

“Yes.” You watched Luca’s body until you stepped out of the room.

You were quite as Derek took you down the maze of hallways as if he knew exactly where he was going, which of course he did. He grew up in this house. You couldn’t hold your head up much longer as you made your way into the room that connected all the tunnels to the stairs of the main house.

“Y/N, stay awake okay?”

“‘M wake.” You grumbled when Derek shook you, but you tried to be more alert.

“Good. Stay that way.” You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at Derek as he ascended the stairs two at a time.

Show off.

You hissed as your fingers slipped off the wound, looking down to see that the jean fabric was soaked red. You knew that wasn’t a good sign, but you tried to keep as much pressure on it as you could. You were just out the door, Derek’s face looking at you every other step when you felt yourself fall.

You hit the porch steps with a painful thud, screaming in pain as your shoulder hit the ground at the same time Derek yelled. You were definitely awake now. You looked with wide eyes to see an arrow sticking out of Derek’s shoulder just as Scott yelled your name.

“Derek!” You got to your feet slowly as Derek groaned, shaking his head.

“Scott, get her out of here!” You watched as Scott came into your vision just as another arrow made its way through Derek’s thigh.

“Y/N come on.” Scott was jumping to the ground before turning back to lift you off the wooden porch with ease and lowering you to the ground next to the porch as Derek yelled.

“Watch your eyes!”

You grabbed Scott, pulling him down toward you. Once he was close enough your grabbed the back of his hair and pulled him as tight to your neck as you could as loud flash bang rang through the clearing. You blinked a couple of times, thankful you have human vision, as Scott removed his face from your neck breathing hard.

“Oh my god, your bleeding.” Scott’s hands were on the piece of fabric, trying to help but the groan of pain made him freeze.

“I’m fine, get Derek!” You hissed, pulling away from Scott and turning to see Allison holding a bow aimed at Derek and Kate smiling proudly down at her.

“No, Scott take her and run!” Derek growled, breaking off the arrow in his thigh and pulling it out.

“Allison, I can explain.” You watched as Scott stood in front of Derek, hands up to placate her as you used the porch to pull yourself to your feet.

“Stop lying. For once stop lying.”

“I was gonna tell you the truth at the formal. I was gonna tell you everything. Because everything that I said, everything that I did--”

“Was to protect me?” Allison sneered, drawing her bow back and you lost your breath.

“Yes.”

“I don't believe you.” She aimed it directly at Scott but you pushed him out of the way clumsily.

“Y/N?” Allison froze at seeing you, eyes darting from Derek to you before aiming at Scott again. “Did they hurt you?”

“No your psychotic aunt kidnapped me, along with Derek. Then one of her hunters tried to kill me.” Allison wavered momentarily, looking at Kate who just laughed.

“Don’t listen to her Allison. She would say anything to protect them. Now, shoot him before I have to shoot myself.” Derek was on his feet again, coming to stand beside you, drawing you back and away from Allison, trying to protect you when he should have been protecting Scott.

“You--You said we were just gonna catch them?” Allison was frowning, lowering her bow as she stared at Kate who just shrugged.

“We did that. Now we're gonna kill them.” Kate smiled, pulling a gun out of her waistband and shooting Derek before you could do anything. “See? Not that hard.”

“Derek!” You screamed again, unable to ease Derek to the ground, instead he fell like a sack of potatoes. You reached for him, fixing to help but Kate tsked at you with her gun aiming for your head.

“Oh no, I know that look.” Kate gave a perfect impression of a pout toward Allison who was watching you being held at gunpoint with fear in her eyes. At least the bow was no longer pointed at Scott. “That's the ' _you're gonna have to do it yourself loo_ k'.”

“Kate.. Kate, what are you doing? She’s human.” You laughed at Allison’s question, drawing everyone’s attention to you.

“Like that ever stopped her before. She’s the one who burned down the Hale house Allison. There were children in that house. Human children.” You took one step forward as Kate grinned at you.

Allison was shaking, her bow falling from her hands as she stared at Kate, waiting for her to deny it. She didn’t.

“Humans who side with werewolves are even worse than the monsters themselves. Say hi to the Hales for me Y/N.” You took a deep breath as you heard your name screamed by Scott and Derek, and Kate’s name fall out of Allison’s mouth, and you prepared to let go.

“Kate! I know what you did.. Now stop this.” You looked to your left as Argent faded into view like a true badass. For a split second you wondered if Kate pulled the trigger and you were dead and dreaming, but the pain in your arm was a clear indicator of life.

“I did what I was told to do Chris.”

“No one asked you to murder innocent people. There were children in that house. Look what you're doing now. You're holding a gun at a 17-year-old girl’s head. We go by the code. We hunt those who hunt us.” Chris kept walking until he was right across from Kate. “Put the gun down before I put you down.”

You were stuck in a standoff with a crazy bitch aiming a gun at you, and an equally crazy person aiming a gun at said bitch holding you at gunpoint. When had your life turned into a supernatural telenovela?

You felt your knees give out at the gunshot, but no pain came. You took a shuddering breath as Derek and Scott called out your name again, but you couldn’t hear anything but the rush of relief flooding through you. You felt hands on you, holding something tight enough to earn a whimper and when you turned to look you saw Allison holding her cardigan to your bleeding wound.

“I won’t miss again.” Chris said, aiming his gun back to his new target. Kate’s head.

Kate slowly lowered her gun and you couldn’t help but sink back into Allison’s arms. The moment was short lived as an angry roar shook the trees. You knew what that meant. The alpha had arrived to the party.

“Allison, get back. Take Y/N with you.” Everyone had their guns trained on the new threat as Allison helped you to your feet with Scott right in front of both of you.

“What is it?” Allison whispered, still clutching your shoulder.

You turned to her, hands taking over for her as you stared into her big brown eyes. “It's the Alpha. When I say run, you need to get out of here. Do you understand?”

“What? You need to run, you can barely stand!” She hissed, eyes full of defiance that you would admire on any other day but you just shook your head. You didn’t have time to say anything else as Chris suddenly went flying to your right.

You knew Peter and despite believing he was feral before killing Laura, you knew his need for revenge would outway any tentative alliance you had with the alpha. Maybe the Peter before the fire was someone who you could grow to care for, but this Peter was broken and too consumed with revenge he couldn’t see what was right in front of him. That was why you kept Allison close as she bent to pick up her bow.

Kate let out a shot that hit nothing. Scott’s eyes were burning gold as he positioned himself in front of you and Allison, who let loose an arrow that hit a tree as Peter’s alpha form whizzed by again, too fast for human reflexes to catch. As soon as you saw a shadow, not even long enough to scream watch out, Scott and Allison were swept off their feet and Allison’s bow flew out of range.

“Come on! Come on!” Kate screamed madly, turning in circles with her gun raised to shoot. You quickly moved to Allison who was slowly getting up beside Derek who was still, thankfully, breathing.

A shot rang out, halting your movements. You turned to see Peter grabbing Kate’s gun arm, hard enough for the weapon to drop after another shot rang out. The crack you heard when Peter broke Kate’s wrist made you grin. You knew Peter was ten shades of koo-koo but you would take his crazy of Kate’s any day.

Peter threw Kate back with enough force that she landed on the porch with a thump, but she was still breathing because she was screaming in pain, or rage. You weren’t sure. Either way, Peter wasted no time in pulling Kate into the Hale house, and you had no problems with what was about to happen.

Maybe that should worry you, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care. Although, when you felt a gust of wind as Allison screamed after her and ran into the house, you couldn’t not care about that. Peter could kill Kate all he wanted, but he couldn’t hurt Allison. Or, begrudgingly, Chris.

You went to follow, but Scott already beat you to it. You cursed under your breath, turning around to see Derek getting to his feet, already wolfed out.

“Derek, wait.” You grabbed ahold of him, keeping him from leaving but he just turned to look at you, his wolf falling away to reveal his perfectly stubbled jaw.

“He’ll kill Allison and Chris if we don’t stop him.” You knew that was true, so you let his arm go as Scott’s growl rang out and Allison came stumbling out of the house.

“Please be careful.” Your whisper met nothing but air as Derek was gone.

You winced at every sound of wood splintering as you walked to where Allison was shaking Chris to wake up. You knelt down beside the pair, hands hovering over Chris’s pulse point to feel a solid thud against your fingertips.

“He’s fine, just knocked the hell out.” Allison was looking at you with wide, worried eyes, but nodded. Before you knew it she was reaching across her dad, fingers hovering over your wound. “I’m fine too.”

“That’s a lot of blood Y/N..” She whispered, but you shrugged. You let your legs fall out from under you just as someone was tossed through the second story window. “Scott!”

Allison was on her feet running for your best friend, and when you tried to get to your feet you found yourself struggling. Soon after Scott came through the window, so did Peter, but it was no longer the wolf form you recognized. It was bigger, uglier, and a hell of a lot scarier.

Especially when it had your best friend in it’s arms, lifting him clear off the ground and snarling. Peter seemed to be covered in dark hair looking more like what the Argent’s called a monster as his red eyes were blazing. Scott got his footing though and pushed as hard as he could against Peter, which sent him tumbling back just as a car approached, honking its horn.

For once, you were hoping it was hunters. But, sadly, it could never be that easy. Instead it was Stiles and for some unknown reason, Jackson. “Stiles get out of here!” You screamed, forcing yourself to your feet this time as Stiles threw something at Peter.

The alpha wolf caught whatever it was, a vile of something. Just as Peter roared, fixing to advance on the new people to the party, Scott yelled for Allison and everything that followed after was in slow motion.

Scott tossed her the bow, and she wasted no time before firing it directly at the vial. With a heavy heart you watched as Peter erupted into flames, his howls falling on deaf ears as Jackson through another vial. He was lit up like a bonfire, the heat coming off him in waves as he roared again. Peter took one step toward Allison, as did you, hoping to pull her to safety but you wobbled, your hand grasping air.

Thankfully it didn’t matter because Scott took over and started hitting Peter. It didn’t take long for the fire to consume him. You watched, as with everyone else, as Peter tried to crawl away, slowing shifting back to human just as Derek came stumbling out of the house holding his chest which had a couple of nasty looking claw marks.

You’re vision was starting to blur at the edges, but you left a moaning Chris behind as you stumbled toward Peter along with the others. Derek was standing directly over Peter then, the alpha whispering something as Scott stood a couple of steps away.

“Wait! You said the cure comes from the one who bit you..” Derek didn’t reply and you knew why. You didn’t want to intervene, so you stopped walking. “Derek. If you do this, I'm dead. Her father, her family.. What am I supposed to do?”

“Y/N?” You felt hands on you, familiar hands that let you relax as Stiles slowly lowered you to the ground.

“Wait! No, no! Don't!” Scott was screaming now, but all you could hear was Derek’s voice and see his eyes changing from his glorious blue to a fiery red.

“ _I'm_ the Alpha now.” His voice commanded power, but you just laughed, clearly delirious.

“That’s great.. But _I_ need a hospital.” The last thing you saw was red before everything faded to black.

\-----

When you woke up, you knew you were in hell because all you could hear was an annoying beeping sound that echoed through your skull. You tried opening your eyes, but every crack let in a blinding light which was not helping the massive headache.

“Y/N. Wake up.” You groaned, knowing exactly whose voice that belonged to.

“God, I really am in hell.” You strained your eyes open to see Chris glaring at you, which, rude.

“I don’t have much time before the sheriff comes back, now pay attention. You were mugged at the gas station on 10th, you know the one. You tried fighting him off, but he stabbed you and took your purse. You tried getting it back and he hit you in the head with the knife, you managed to make it back to your car which was when I found you as I was pulling in. Do you understand?”

You gave Chris your biggest bitch face before lifting your hand and running it through your hair. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t throw you under the bus and say you did this?”

Chris gave you a serene smile before sitting back in his chair. “Because I told the sheriff I thought Allison mentioned something about you going to the dance with Derek Hale. And we both know who he’ll think the real suspect is.”

You let out a long sigh, closing your eyes again to will the headache away. “You’re a piece of work Argent. Get out of my hospital room.”

“I found Luca.” You froze at that, eyes cracking open to see Chris watching you with an expression you could only classify as concern. “I also found your blood.”

“I killed him.” You snapped, hands gripping your sheets tightly as he looked away from you then down at his hands.

“As strong as you are, I don’t think you can throw a grown man into a concrete wall.”

“Derek was protecting me, you can’t hurt him. I swear to God if you do--” You didn’t know why Chris holding his hand up stopped you, but it did, and there was an uncomfortable silence hanging between you and the hunter.

“I believe you and as long as Derek doesn’t kill anyone or bite anyone without their permission he has nothing to fear from me and my family.” You couldn’t help but snort. You avoided Chris’s eyes as they lingered on you, instead you fiddled with the hospital blanket. “Y/N, did Luca do anything to you?”

The silence was palpable then, and you felt your stomach clench at Chris’s soft voice as he asked that question.

“Derek stopped him.” You repeated, not trusting your voice to say more. You dared a look at Chris, who was glaring at the wall across from him as if he could melt it with one look. Honestly, if looks could kill, then that clock would be a goner.

”I— Kate—“ You watched the hunter open his mouth and then close it several times, and just when it looked like he was going to say something else, the door opened and revealed Noah who was holding a coffee and a wary frown.

“Hey Noah..” You watched Noah jump in surprise before his face lit up with relief as he rushed to you, careful not to jar your shoulder as he put his arm around you.

“God, kiddo.. You scared the hell out of me. You’re never allowed to do that again, do you hear me?” You felt your eyes burn at the worry in Noah’s voice, and immediately felt guilty.

“I’m okay.” You mumbled, just as Melissa came in the room with a delighted squeak and you had your arms full of two grown adults who were telling you they love you.

“I’m just going to go… I’m glad your okay Y/N.” Noah and Melissa pulled back but Melissa kept one hand running through your hair as Noah reached out his hand toward Chris.

“Thank you for bringing her in Chris.. You have no idea how much this means to me. If you need anything, and I mean, anything. Don’t hesitate to ask.” Chris gave Noah an awkward handshake before turning to leave.

Before he got out the door though, he turned back one last time and gave you fierce nod. You knew what it was. It was meant to be an agreement. A promise for the hunters in Beacon Hills to leave the werewolves to do their wolfy business in peace. You slowly felt yourself relax into Melissa’s comforting embrace, but naturally it couldn’t last long.

“Hey kiddo, now that you’re awake could you tell me what happened? Chris said something about Derek Hale being your dat--”

“Derek wasn’t my date, Noah.” You rolled your eyes and noticed how the sheriff immediately relaxed. “He must have overheard me talking to Allison about maybe asking him, because, I mean he’s hot like burning.”

Noah rolled his eyes at you and Melissa stifled a laugh. “Then what happened?”

“I don’t know to be honest.. It all happened so fast. I wasn’t really feeling the dance and was just going to go to the party so I stopped and got some food and then went to the gas station but before I could get gas someone jumped me.” And here’s where you really sold it. “I knew.. I knew I shouldn’t have fought back but.. In my wallet was a picture of me and dad when I was at my first swimming lesson. It was the only copy I had of that picture.”

You looked down at your hands then, closing them together and holding on tightly. You were so going to hell.

“Okay, why don’t we let her rest? You can ask the rest of your questions later?” Noah gave a sad nod to Melissa and bent down to kiss your forehead.

“I called Alicia… she’s still in Tokyo. I let her know you were okay and what happened, but she can’t get a flight out until after her meeting, she said it was super--”

“Important?” You answered with a grin that was more malicious than you intended. “Yeah. I’ll just text her and tell her not to worry, I’m fine.” You reached for the bedside table which held your phone, but was stopped by Noah’s hands.

“You always have us, okay kid?”

“Always.” Melissa said with a kiss to your temple before going to do her rounds. “I’ll be back in an hour, if you need anything, just hit the call button.”

You waved her out the door with a small grin before turning to see Noah making himself comfortable. “Where’s Stiles and Scott?”

“They were just in here, stepped out when I did earlier as Argent got here. They said they were going to stop in and see Lydia.”

You sat up straighter, ignoring the pain that started at your shoulder and went all the way down your arm which you just now noticed was in a sling. “Lydia? Why is she in the hospital?”

“She was attacked by an animal on the football field. She’s in some sort of coma, the doctors say she should be fine, but she hasn’t woken up yet.” You felt all the air leaving your lungs as you laid back in the bed.

You and Lydia weren’t best friends or anything but you were something. You didn’t know when the switch flipped from you hating her guts to having this hollow feeling in your chest that she was hurt. Especially by Peter. You were about to ask Noah more when Stiles and Scott burst in the room, both pair of brown eyes lighting up at the fact you were awake.

“Well, that’s my queue to leave. I’m going into the station to catch up on some paperwork, Melissa said that they want to keep you here for a couple of days and do another cat scan to make sure everything is fine-- No, no buts. If you want out of here, argue with Melissa.”

You gave him a glare, knowing full and well you wouldn’t start an argument with her. Scott’s mom is a scary lady when she wants to be. “Please be good for the hospital staff, and you two, watch over our girl.”

You rolled your eyes as Noah gave you another kiss on the head and ruffling Stiles' hair on his way out. Once the door was shut you had an arm full of Stiles and Scott. You laughed lightly, trying to push them away but they held on tighter.

“I’m okay losers.” You mumbled into Scott’s hair as he seemed to be sniffing your neck.

“Don’t ever do that again.” Stiles said, pulling back from you first to fix you with a glare.

“Scott, I’m fine.” You said pushing away the werewolf who was still sniffing and rubbing on your neck.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I just have the sudden urge to like wrap you in bubble wrap and never let you out of my sight.”

“And you could do that by sniffing me?” You asked lightly, swatting at him to stay away as he swayed toward you again.

“Maybe it’s a wolf thing, like protecting someone when they are hurt?” Stiles shrugged his shoulder as he took the seat Noah vacated and slid it as close to your bed as possible.

“I don’t know, but can.. Can I lay with you?” Scott asked awkwardly, which made you laugh and scoot closer to Stiles and the edge of the small hospital bed.

“Come on wolfy.” You rolled your eyes as Scott’s lit up and he carefully climbed into the bed, curling himself protectively around you as Stiles leaned on the bed as well, letting his long limbs rest around Scott until it was more like a group hug.

You relaxed into the bed, really relaxed for the first time since you found out about all this werewolf business. You were about to shut your eyes when Scott spoke up.

“What are we going to do now?” He sounded so small beside you, which had you scooting closer to him and him holding on a little bit tighter.

“What we always do.. Figure it out. _Together_.” You said looking out the window for the first time to see it was almost night time again.

“Together.” Stiles mumbled, resting his head on top of Scott’s arm.

“Together.” If Scott sounded close to tears, neither you or Stiles said anything about it.

Instead you looked out the window, noticing the tops of trees since you were on the second story of the hospital. You’re heart rate slowed down as the good drugs started to make you drift off again, but you could still see the pinprick of two red dots looking back at you, and for the first time they weren’t met with fear.


End file.
